


Pathcode

by PBJ614



Series: Pathcode [1]
Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Different Powers, Angst, Fluff, M/M, MAMA Era Powers (EXO), Minor Character Death, Minor Violence, OT12 (EXO)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-20
Updated: 2019-10-02
Packaged: 2019-11-01 04:56:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 19
Words: 47,694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17860718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PBJ614/pseuds/PBJ614
Summary: Twelve paths that have gone through pain, anguish and suffering must remain united if they want to complete the mission that was entrusted to them before their birth ...





	1. London 15:01

**Author's Note:**

> After a few years I managed to put together the courage to publish it.  
> I started writing this before exo came back with monster and lucky one ... so any resemblance to the videos and the direction the story has taken are purely coincidental (for a moment I thought SM was spying on me).  
> The story was originally created as a birthday gift to a very special friend for the purpose of giving context to the teasers but then it began to transform into a bigger and bigger monster and for 3-4 years this story has only been read by 3 people. It's one of the longest jobs I've done and although I do not feel 100% sure of it, it's time to make it known.  
> English is not my first language  
> The moodboards in some chapters or posters as you want to call it were originally made by me.  
> You can find me on twitter as @ pbj2764

 

                                                               

 

He couldn’t leave the  thought of feeling watched for days. He had considered not leaving his apartment so much, but for some reason that made him feel more smothered, that's why he tried to leave constantly and it was at that moment when he felt it the most, there were even occasions when he listened to footsteps following him in some parts of the city and the sound of a camera flash, but he always told himself that they were tourists portraying the beauty of London because... It was not possible that they had found it so fast, right? That is, it would not make sense if he could escape at any moment ... disappear in matter of seconds. Despite having arrived in London a month ago, he did not want to leave so quickly, it was the most he had stayed in one place, transporting himself only when he truly felt it necessary. He knew that he shouldn't be so careless and irresponsible, if Suho found out he would punish him with the authority so characteristic of a mother not like a father but a mother.

 It could be said that Jongin was undoubtedly the first to remember everything, but he doubted that at some point he would have lost his memories.  Since they came to earth ... he remembered everything. What he once called "home", his family, how difficult his training had been, the feeling of terror to survive, the regret of trusting the wrong people, the cruelty that can exist in the hearts of humans and above all ... the loss of leaving  behind what he loved the most.

He was among those who considered that Suho's idea of separating was the worst thing that their leader ad suggested.  Everyone was under his "custody" and he knew they would give their lives to protect each other because they shared a bond that was stronger than any other, they had not been forced to accept each other but they behaved like a family, but that was it what made them an easy target.

The mere fact of thinking about it again gave chills all over him, most people could believe that by their attitude or even by their physical appearance he was a strong and cold person when in fact it was the opposite. He knew that in a world as perverse as this one he could not lower his guard.  Jongin liked  traveling so much, seeing new places and everything they offered but had to be very careful. He could not stay in one place for a long time, that was clear, because he should always keep moving, hoping to find a familiar face in one of the places he visited ... but so far it had been impossible. He thought it was foolish to think about it, the world has a large number of countries inhabited by millions of people and he was only looking for 9 in specific. In spite of his ability he knew that this brought risks, not only because it was something different from humans but because of the same energy that it consumed.

Although with the passage of time and his training he considered that he could handle it very well ... even when he knew it was not entirely true, there were things that Jongin could not control and that still terrified him, especially because even in the past not even his instructors knew the limits of his ability and it only remained for him to discover them completely. He could not obey his leader's latest rules, "Keep the use of his skills to a minimum" because at least in Jongin's case it was a necessity. If he did not use his powers for a certain time he could feel the amount of energy running through his veins as an excess and not always brought nice results.

That is why the only solution was to stay in constant movement.  But that's where his stubbornness appears, he loved London, the fact of being in an unknown place gave him the opportunity to explore it as something new and unimaginable, the true beauty of London. Besides the food, the perfect climate to spend it sleeping peacefully for hours surrounding it with the constant feeling of security ... there was a moment when he thought that the reason for this was that in London the summer was not very noticeable, always with clouds present in the sky without mentioning the - sometimes permanent - rains, which reminded him of Suho, it made him think that the leader was taking care of him even though he had no idea where he was.

Walking through the streets of London immersed in his own thoughts, he did not realize that he had walked for more than half an hour and he now was in a very crowded place, the central square.  Despite the weather, Londoners were used to it, that's why they did not worry and lived like a normal day.

It happened near a few street market exhibitions that covered almost three whole blocks, but there was something that called his attention. In one of the posts he could see different types of artifacts with strange symbols that were familiar to him, that while some could find them interesting others simply saw them astral to their liking, looking like an antique stand with articles that had nothing in common among them.

 "Did you find something that caught your attention, young man?" Asked one of the merchants. 

 " ... The truth is, it's just that your stand is different, most of the items you sells are ... different." 

 "Ahhh that's because here, you can find what your heart desires" For some reason those words made Jongin feel insecure, looking up from the artifacts he previously observed, towards the person in front of him. He was sure he had never seen him before but there was something in his eyes that made it look disconcertingly familiar.

"Only the people who really need it are attracted to the artifacts that I offer" added the man and it was by saying those words that Jongin saw what the seller was holding in his hands, were _platinum_ spheres _?_ _... similar to ..._ just at the moment when he was debating about their familiarity  a strong headache interrupted him, one that as time progressed did nothing but climb, becoming stronger, unable to understand what was happening he unconsciously stepped back, pressing his temple with a trembling hand waiting for the sudden pain to left him without noticing the small smile that appeared on the face of the seller.

 "Are you okay ... .. Kai ? " That last word was enough for Jongin's heart to overturn, forgetting for a few seconds the throbbing pain in his head, giving another step back while watching the malicious face of the man in front to him, _he did not have much time, he had to act fast_ .  He looked around because the man probably wasn't alone but he could not contain his hysteria and did not care if other people saw him, he had to flee as quickly as possible, so without thinking it twice he ran. He ran as fast as his legs would allow him keeping his eyes alert, feeling as each pair of eyes fixed on him even though he knew that was not possible, he felt how his breathing was shaking and could not contain it anymore, he succumbed to the panic and disappeared from the place.

Because everything was very sudden and he couldn't think clearly, he ended up appearing on the roof of a building 3 blocks from the market. He started walking frantically around the roof trying to control his breathing, _He said Kai_ _..._ _I was 100% sure that he_ _said Kai_ _... nobody called him that besides ..._ London was no longer safe, he had to run away and find the others, he did not care what Suho had said before. They were moving again and would not achieve anything by themselves. He remember the past and definitely did not want more sacrifices, so hehad to find them again. But there was only one problem: He did not know where to start looking.

He could not waste much time, surely they were after him.  The panic began to affect him, feeling frustrated he passed his hand ruffling his hair just as his cellphone vibrated, notifying him of a new message. It was strange ... there was no one to contact him. He rushed to verify and it was indeed an unknown number, but the message contained only one word:

Barcelona 

  
_What is this?_ _Surely the wrong number ..._ _Or maybe ..._ but it could also be a trap, and whatever it would end up spinning in a labyrinth designed for him. This made him remember the endless walls, corridors with no way out, the constant screaming he heard on every corner, those horrible rooms and most importantly ... Kyungsoo . He could not afford to doubt ... he had to find them, that's why without thinking, he disappeared with a thought in his head, luckily it was still Europe.

 

 


	2. Barcelona 10:10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> English is not my first lenguage so if you found some errors please let me know.

**_Barcelona 10:10_ **

****

He didn’t keep track of the days he spent in that cafe outside the city of Barcelona, despite being small and cozy and the coffee they served was simply delicious  even if he wasn’t a coffee lover himself.  Even though he still did not remember all his past, he knew there was a reason why he was alone, even if that was one of the things that scared him the most ... besides ghosts and insects but that was not very important. 

It was a little difficult to realize that he was different, that he could be special. He was in one of his martial arts classes when he noticed for the first time. He was struggling with one of the professors who, according to him, "Tao had a talent born in martial arts" so he decided that the best way to prove it was an unrestricted encounter between them ... even if it was his the third class. Tao did not know how to react to the sudden attacks of his master but, before realizing his body seemed to move by itself, as if he knew what to do in those situations so he knew how to handle the fight in his favor. The practice made him realize that in reality his opponent was very good at what he was doing, that is to say he master after all, but even so the boy was able to intercept his attacks and in a matter of seconds after a few hits he realized that he was being able to read the movements of his opponent. He identified his master's way of fighting, a bit aggressive but very agile.

He was probably very excited in the confrontation that he did not notice the moment his teacher made the signal for the rest of the class to attack - "as part of the training" was at that moment when the situation got a little out of hand even if it seemed that he could dominate the fight, he was fighting against his teacher and five other students, it did not help that the students of the most advanced class were there.   The moment one of them attacked with a wooden stick and the rest decided to also attack, his heart began to beat faster feeling the adrenaline rush through his veins but even so it was not enough, his opponents were fast and he knew he could defeat them separately but facing them all at the same time was too much, it was at that moment that he closed his eyes and a thought crossed his mind, "Slow down, I need time to prevent the attacks". The attack he expected never arrived, he opened his eyes and saw that everything seemed to have frozen.

He thought that he was imagining it and blinked many times but the image in front of his eyes did not change, he left the circle in which he was previously cornered and saw the complete image of his surroundings. His companions seemed to have frozen still in attack position, like his teacher. No sound was heard, he observed the clock that was hanging on the wall and he realize that it had stopped moving, its needles weren’t walking. _What the hell is happening?_ _The time…_

He had no idea what had happened or why he was the only one who was not affected by the strange phenomenon ... _Maybe it's ..._ _no, it can’t be._ _I ..._ _Am I responsible_ _for this?_ _…Is that possible?_ He walked to the clock that was on the wall at the other end of the room and stared at it while trying to concentrate: _Move, move, move!_ The moment the needles seemed to move again he heard the commotion of what happened behind him.

“What happened Tao? How is it that you are there?"

“Yah! How did you dodge us all in one movement? You were too fast that we didn’t even saw you.”

The young man didn’t know what to answer but he felt a little dizzy, and confused with what had just happened. He excused himself from the class saying that he did not feel well and left the place as quickly as possible. It was after that event that he realized that it was not normal, at night he had those strange dreams that with his recurrences he started to doubt if they were dreams and the idea of memories came to his mind. His companions or rather his family and ... Who did he forget? There was a reason why his heart was not calm but he didn’t know with certainty what it was, he still didn’t recover all his memories.   For some reason he had found a little warmth inside the small cafeteria, there were times when he was absorbed in his thoughts and he felt he could remember little things like, what was his favorite food or some physical trait of different people he assumed were his companions and although not all of them were happy he felt that it was better to remember everything at once.

That was another reason why he was there again reading the newspaper, he thought his day would be quiet as it had been for a few weeks. The headlines of the news that covered the first pages showed him the opposite: "The comet is appearing in ten cities around the world." _Comet?_ Reading the rest of the news he knew that it was not a normal event, the sun and the moon aligned, specific cities, what was special about them? ... _Was this what he had been waiting for?_ _There was an ancient prophecy that_ _Suho_ _repeated to them all the time but it was uncertain whether it was true or not_ _... wait…Who was_ _Suho_ _?_ _Why did that name come to his mind?_ He considered that it was due to the number of thoughts that crossed his mind at that moment that when he heard how one of the coffee shop lights exploded, his feelings became more intense and he activated his power without him realizing it. 

If everything started to move again it meant that each of the others were in danger, including himself, he took one last look at the paper and memorized each of the cities mentioned in the news article and just in case he took a picture with his cell phone. He got up from the table and looked around, he did not have much time.

Before he leaves there was something that caught his attention, at the nearest table was a man reading a book but ... his gaze was set on the spot where Tao had previously been sitting, who had been so focused on the newspaper did not notice he was being watched. The young man approached that person and what he discovered made him run out of that place. The man had in effect what looked like a book, but it was only for appearance, instead of finding the letters of a normal book Tao found a number of annotations on the blank pages, his photograph and the name of certain cities: Berlin, Edinburgh, Marseille and the last of them Lyon, which was followed with only one word: Found.


	3. Arizona 17:12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> English is not my first lenguage so I'm sorry for the mistakes.

                                                        

 

 

Everything was engulfed in flames again. He didn’t know if the sudden headache attacks had influenced something but he knew it was not normal. His whole apartment burned in the heat of the fire, but that was not what worried him, the strange thing was that he felt no pain and much less fear of being caught in the fire. On the contrary, he felt a certain familiarity in it. Even when the temperature rose more and more and everything around him was destroying little by little.

 

It was at the moment that the anger and despair he had felt a few minutes ago began to fade. Not knowing his past entirely infuriated him, he had spent days with the same dreams but could not remember anything clear, it was as if there was a barrier in his head that prevented him. He knew he was close to remembering something big but could not get anything and it was in those moments when the headaches returned, this time more intense than before ... it was there when he could not control his emotions and he got angry. He started throwing the cup he had in his hands. He needed to get it all out at once.

 

He began to destroy everything he could find, from books to the furniture in his apartment. When he took one of the cushions and threw it with all his strength to the wall it was consumed in flames, he had no idea what was happening. He looked at his hands, which were beginning to feel warmer than normal and he returned his gaze back to the wall, which started to burn in flames as the floor of the apartment, being carpeted it did not take long to scatter the fire. Everything happened too fast that he did not have time to react.

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

  
Even if he had lost most of his things in the fire he did not give much importance, he had never considered himself a materialistic person, well at least in what he remembered. Moreover, even the people around him told him that he was a cold person without feelings, it might sound strange but for a moment he truly considered it. For some reason he felt a void in his being, something that did not allow him to be happy although he associated it with his poor memory, that is, how can someone be happy without knowing himself completely? He did not even remember many things about his past. That's why he was determined to retrieve all his memories, it was likely that maybe, just maybe that's the way he could be happy.

 

That is why after the fire Chanyeol had to move. He decided on a place far from everything he knew and above all, far from any emotion too strong that caused another attack as he lived, opting for a small cabin in the woods that gave him all the tranquility he needed. He could have stayed in the city, even his boss had been very understanding that he offered to increase his salary in what he recovered everything he had lost, however decided to resign.

 

In addition another factor that impelled him to leave was fear. The fire had been his fault, he was aware of it and worse still that he had not been the only person affected. Fortunately, when the commotion passed with the authorities, they declared that the real cause of the fire had been a gas leak, but the young man knew that it was not true. He knew that everything was caused by an impulse and uncontrolled anger, especially because that was not the first time something like that had happened.

 

After moving, he used the days to understand the nature of his ability, at the beginning it was very difficult because the first time he was aware of it was because of an impulse and the second time because of frustration. It was there when he realized that in a certain aspect his ability could be related to his emotions, so he focused on concentration and tests with different possible situations. Being all day practicing exhausted him at the beginning, he could not help it since it was something new for him and consumed his energies very fast.

  
  
There were times when he got discouraged because he didn’t find a real purpose in why to continue with the same routine every day, yes, it was important to master his ability not to hurt more people in the future but ... he felt that there was something else that was intended to discover. That is why when he felt reluctant he decided to invest his day in other activities but once the sun went down and his surroundings began to get dark he lit some matches with the idea of seeing them burn, but ... it was not the fire that he liked , but the light that it gave off. It made him feel safe, calm and strange that it sounds, beloved.

 

It was in those cases in which Chanyeol abused a little more of his power, he sat in the small improvised room of the cabin and with the palms of his hands he generated enough fire for the light that it formed to completely envelop him, the sensation of feeling safe and peace surround him.

 

He realized that the new environment he was in was better, without the noise and distractions of the city. What he loved most was lying down after an exhausting afternoon of training – that’s how he decided to call it after becoming something like a routine - and see the sky full of stars in addition to the bright moon at night.

 

Although not everything was rosy, he had nights when nightmares would not let him sleep, random images of other children and many screams ... a series of disturbing events that made him wake up suddenly. He didn’t know if they were simply dreams or ... they were some of his memories, if it was the last thing he did not really want to recover his past. After several days with the same kind of dreams that the only thing that left him was a bit of fear and fatigue for the rest of the day, he made the decision to avoid sleeping to keep the nightmares away from his mind ... Obviously that was impossible, so without thinking he found a solution.

 

It was a night when the sky was full of stars that felt relief in his heart. He could not explain it was just ... beautiful, it was at that moment that he felt his heavy eyes demanding rest that he slept in peace. From that night he took over his favorite place in the forest to contemplate the sky once the stars appeared and to be able to sleep peacefully under the light of the moon.

 

Sometime later Chanyeol found himself addicted to one more thing: the sunrises. It was as if his body knew the exact time when the sun would rise and wake him up with enough time for him to walk to the exact place where the sun rose and enveloped everything with that wonderful light. It was beautiful ... but at the same time it was painful ... and despite how much he tried to relate something-or someone- to that feeling, it was impossible.

 

After a few weeks he realized that there were parts of the forest that he still did not know, so he took a few days of "rest" and set out to walk without an exact path, he just wanted to know more about the forest that had become his home.

 

He had been walking for a long time and thinking about the memories he had managed to recover that he didn’t notice the moment when a kind of ruins had appeared in front of him. It could be said that before the place had been majestic, but now it was in a state that made it seem very old, in a deplorable state.

 

He walked by what he thought were once big buildings, probably houses or who knows, they could be the rubble of an old castle. In one of the buildings he found what appeared to be the remains of a house, or so he thought. Filled with strange objects and full of vines covering the walls. His curiosity did not leave him alone so he began to observe more carefully some of the objects, he sat in one of the boxes that were nearby and saw that at his feet was a kind of diary. He took it in his hands and began to skim through it, the pages had a smell of damp and they were yellowish due to the old, his paste was covered in leather which explained why it was still in a decent state.

 

A strong breeze made her realize that the sun was setting and it would be best to return to the forest, but as he began to leave he realize something else. At his feet was also a kind of rock with strange symbols. When he picked it up he saw how it was very similar to one of the drawings on the pages of the diary, when he began to compare them was when he realized that this seemed to shine and began to increasing its intensity with every second, so much that he was forced to close his eyes, it was at that moment that a series of events crossed his mind, feelings of anguish, emotion, pain among other things, was too much that the last thing Chanyeol could remember before fainting was a single word, or rather a single Name: _Baekhyun._


	4. Berlín 05:06

                                                             

 

It took him longer than necessary to return to his apartment because of how tired he was ... besides that the bar in which he had spent the last two hours had to close due to the _"sudden climatic changes"._ The manager of the bar had suggested that he return home so that he would not run the risk of catching a cold, _as if the weather would affect me._

 

  
After taking the train back he still had a long way to go, that's why he always brought a skateboard with him, it was more comfortable than a bicycle or a car ... although he preferred not to spend too much on a car, and he couldn’t afford to spend too much money.

 

  
He had to admit that Berlin was undoubtedly a beautiful city and really wish he had the time to visit it as it should, to pass by the Museum Island or the Unter Boulevard of Linden, according to what the citizens said, those were places that any tourist should visit ... if not because all the time he felt like a fugitive, having to take care of his back every day without being able to lower his guard. In addition, he tried to keep a low profile and not attract attention, a good reason why his apartment was on the outskirts of the city.

 

It was 5 o'clock in the morning when he was finally approaching his apartment, but he could not help but feel defeated again, had spent days looking for some clue, some kind of trail that could help him find the others but nothing seemed to work. They had no time to lose, they were wanted and persecuted again and in spite of the risk Minseok believed that the best thing was to do everything possible to return, obviously with a strategy in mind, this time the goal was not to be captured but to infiltrate, it is the least he could do for those who stayed behind.

 

The others might not agree once he told them about his plan but ... he had to do it, he felt a certain responsibility and guilt every time he thought about it, besides making him feel lonely. Yes, Suho was their leader but Minseok was the oldest of all and that was probably why he also felt that his duty was to keep others safe, they were a family after all and no one appreciates seeing their family suffer much less than his brothers, it is an inexplicable bond that only they were capable of understanding, and he was sure that those who left behind felt it too ... that was the reason why everything happened.

 

Kris, Luhan and Minseok were tired of seeing how they all suffered and some were even tortured at the hands of those people and being the oldest the only thing they wanted was to protect others, it was obvious that Suho felt it too but ... he was the one with his hands tied ... they all had a weak spot and they quickly found their leader's. That is why even with difficulties they planned the way to escape. Everyone was aware that Minseok was a reserved person but still cared for them, and even though his power did nothing but freeze everything around him there was only one person who managed to keep his heart warm. He shook his head trying to push away all those thoughts that covered his mind, he could not afford to think about that now.

 

  
He had tried everything these past few days, but his patience was running out and he felt desperate, which is why he had spent the whole night frantically traversing every corner of the capital going further and further, but he did nothing but exhaust his energies without getting rid of the the grief in his heart.

 

  
The only thing that kept him distracted at the moment was music. Even if he knew that it wasn’t the voice he really wanted to hear in a melody but he could not do anything but resign myself. He had enough for the day, he was tired and with every step he took he did nothing but lose hope.

 

  
It is when he finally managed to enter his apartment located on the third floor of the building that he felt he could not take it anymore. This one was very large, or at least it seemed that way because it lacked furniture. He did not consider it necessary to try to make it look like a home when he knew he was far from it, it was enough with a kitchen, a place to sleep and just because it was part of the room, he had a TV and a sofa in the center of the room. Although they had always considered him to be the most orderly and neat member - he wanted to order everything within his reach to combat stress or anxiety - now even that could not calm him down. That's why his apartment was with garbage on the floor without mentioning the number of phone directories from different countries that he had acquired, it was not a bad idea looking in them also for any track ... although he was not surprised when he found nothing, a part of he was relieved that at least none of them had been so foolish to register and make himself known very quickly, but on the other hand he was disappointed to end up empty-handed.

 

In spite of how tired he was, it was difficult for him to get to sleep, so he went to the kitchen for a glass of water and after crossing out more places on a map he kept on the table, collapsed on the sofa. It was too early so he stopped going through the channels without even being fully aware of what he was seeing until began to feel his eyes closing on their own. Just as he began to relax and close his eyes completely, the sound of the television made him startle quickly, focusing on the little attention he had on the device in front of him. The sound was for a static on the television _, what's wrong with this thing?_ What appeared seconds later made his dream and tiredness vanish completely.

 

  
He could identify different images distorted by static, landscapes and random  objects, he did not understand what was happening and he considered turning off the television until a clear image appeared in front of him.

 

He could recognize it anywhere, even though his dark hair was longer since he last saw it, just falling over his eyes, which seemed to be a little distant but with a touch of innocence and kindness in them, even there, he could see him. His pronounced cheekbones only made him look more perfect in Minseok's eyes. He sat up as he felt his heart speed up and felt the tears wanting to escape his eyes. _Jongdae_

  
  
The feeling did not last long as a lot of thoughts attacked his mind _. Who is sending these images? Is in danger? I cannot tell where it is, the only thing I see is ... a church? ... Where are you Jongdae? Can you ... can you remember me?_ The next thing that came to him was anger, the despair of not being able to find him, the fear of being found before him.

 

If any of them dares to touch a single hair of Jongdae again ... The feeling was too predominant that he did not notice the moment when the glass still in his hand began to freeze. The static returned, distorting the image again, with what seemed to be random places, among them could differentiate what seemed a word, came closer to differentiate it by supporting his hand on the TV screen and knew he had a new direction to go: Edinburgh.

 


	5. Edinburgh 15:25

                                                              

 

 

No, no and no. Nothing. He was beginning to believe that someone was playing a joke on him and he had been too stupid to fall for it too easily and now he had to deal with the feeling of defeat ... again.  
  
A few days ago he had begun to receive a number of strange messages on his cell phone. At first he  tried to ignore them, believing that it was a mistake of the same telephone company or just wrong number, but when they became persistent that he even received two messages from them at the same time, exactly at 3 in the afternoon with 25 minutes, He began to believe that something strange was happening. What seemed most strange to him was that the messages seemed to be only numbers, until after spending hours thinking about what could be treated, he discovered that they were coordinates. He had to resort to external help to decipher them and know what was happening.  
  
Despite everything that had happened, he still was not so sure about who he really was. He had thought he was a normal college student, with mundane problems to worry about, or so he believed and it was real for a while. Until he remembered everything, and once he did ... his whole world collapsed.  
  
He left his studies and began to hide while fighting with himself every day. He was not entirely happy to remember his past. Who wants to remember what it feels like to see the people around them die, lose their family not once, but twice and the worst ... lose part of their heart.

Sehun spent very difficult days in which even the only thing he thought was to end everything once and for all. What did his life matter? If the only thing that remained to remind him that everything had not been a bad dream were the countless scars that ran all over his body, before recovering his memories he had believed that he had some kind of accident ... he would have wished it were so. And that pain, that horrible pain in his heart that made him wonder if he could ever be able to smile again. The only thing that stopped him was that he did not want the sacrifice of his brothers to be in vain ... No, he should not think about that. Luhan was still alive ... He had to, He could feel it.  
  
After several days of what he called his "dark days," he began to believe that maybe there was some hope, he had to find Luhan. He had no idea how, but he had to, especially when he started receiving those messages.

He tried to decipher most of them and after thinking about it very well he decided to go to those places, starting with those who were closer to his house, there must be a reason why he received such messages, right?

As expected, exactly when the clock struck 3:15 in the afternoon his two daily messages arrived. However ... most of the time the coordinates took him to places a bit desolate, but they also used to take him to places that brimmed with people, like tourist places and parks. However, in some of them he found strange things. On two occasions when he arrived at the place indicated by his map, there were policemen in the place trying to clean up a crime scene. They said they were murders but ... Sehun was not sure about that. The scene was full of a strange black thing around the bodies, the young man was not a doctor but he knew that it was not blood.

After those two incidents he decided it was better not to go back to his investigation ... that seemed to be something he should not interfere with, especially if he wanted to keep a low profile. Days passed in which he ignored those messages, it was inevitable not to see them but he decided to ignore them, until one of them was different, it did not contain only the usual numbers but something else:

_0013-88765_

_0013-88770_

_-Han_

 

He could not believe it ... could it be...? It was only a matter of seconds when he was out of his house running through the streets in the direction indicated by the coordinates. He did not even bother to call the number from which the messages came - he had already tried since he noticed the pattern at the time he received them, but always the voice on the other end of the line said that the number he had dialed did not exist. And the messages he received were always from different numbers.  
  
He was surprised to realize that his destination was too close, in fact it was a few streets away from his house and just like the other times, the place would seem to be desolate.

It was in what looked like a community like the typical suburbs, however, he did not know if it was a matter of time but the streets were desolate. A few cars parked at the exit of their houses but otherwise ... empty. The houses were exactly the same on the outside, the only thing that differentiated them is that some families chose to decorate their doors with different styles and in addition to the house number, and there was no other difference between them.

One of the coordinates took him to one of the houses that seemed to be empty, it was not safe but the garden was rather neglected, a lot of newspapers were at the foot of the door of the house and a few bottles of milk next to them, which indicated that if in any case there were people inside that house they were absent for days. Curiosity was mortifying him, so he checked his surroundings very well before forcing his way into the house.

He found nothing, absolutely nothing, which was why he was frustrated from the beginning, he was hoping that this time he could have found something that would be useful, especially after that message. That little "Han" at the end of the message had made his heart contract and give him hope. He left the house and crossed out the place on his map. It was at that moment that he realized that he had entered the wrong house, the euphoria of the moment did not let him think clearly and he mistook the numbers of the message. He turned around and found the house that was truly his goal.  
   
When he reached the door he considered forcing his entrance as in the previous one but ... it did seem to be inhabited for the moment, so he tried to open the door in a normal way, surprised that it opened easily. He knew that it could be considered a crime to enter an unknown house in this way, but it was not the time to think about what was right and what was not.

The atmosphere inside the house was strange, as if something was not right in it. He entered a little more and stopped short when he saw a toy airplane suspended in the air, at first he thought that it hung from the ceiling with threads but he used his power to move it and only turned in the same place ... like it was floating ... he only knew one person capable of doing something like that. He moved quickly to the living room of the house but instead of meeting with whom he expected, he saw two children in front of him, they looked like about 10 years old... they ... were at the center of the room with toys floating around them. When they noticed Sehun's presence he was paralyzed ... his heart and mind bombarding him with different feelings, he was so distracted that he did not realize that at one point one of the children had stood up, walked towards him and took his hand, startling him and letting go of the child's grip, he try to put distance between them.

Looking at it closely the boy looked ... sick, with his skin very pale, his lips of an almost purple color, he saw how his hands trembled uncontrollably at his sides and his body, the child was small in stature but too thin, making him look too fragile. Did they not feed him well?

“... You have to l-leave ...”

  
“... Excuse me? ... Who are you? ... Are you the one who controls these things? No, there's someone else here, right? ... O-only one person can do this but he ...”

"You must ... You must escape." The boy in front of him began to cough uncontrollably, so that he ended up on the floor holding his weak body with his own hands. Sehun did not know what he was supposed to do. The other child who had been sitting on the floor all the time stood up quickly and went to the other's aid. He directed his gaze to the windows closing the blinds, lit one of the dim lamps so as not to be completely dark while all the toys that had been floating, fell to the ground. Sehun understood that both seemed to have the power of telekinesis but ... How can that be possible? Could it be that ... they are ... reproducing their powers? No ... no ... That would mean that ... Luhan ... Kris-

“You have to get out of here, before they come.” Sehun did not have to think twice before running out of that place, not without first realizing that both children were bleeding or something very similar to it. The one who had approached him first looked more tired and a strange black liquid was coming out of his mouth every time he coughed, while the other child began to breathe forcefully and similarly that strange liquid began to come out through his nose.

Sehun ran to the exit, looked around and everything seemed the same. But he could not trust anything, he tried to go back to his apartment but just when he was going to cross at one of the corners of the block he hit something, and because of the speed at which he was running plus the impact, it was too strong for both him and the person he collided with, they ended up on the ground. When he tried to rejoin, he realized that he had collided with a young man who was trying to get up quickly in the same way. It was when the stranger turned around that he forgot completely why he was running in the first place.

_“ ... Minseok-hyung?”_

 


	6. Marseille 10:22

                                                                 

 

 

_He was in that room again. The only thing that could make a difference in that dark place was the door at the end of the hall and a table on the left side, above it was a glass with water, paper and pencil. On his right side there was a wall with what appeared to be a glass wall, Suho thought it was a mirror because it looked the same reflected in him but a voice in his head warned him that he was not alone. His reflection did not surprise him, he felt weak, tired and especially defeated and it was exactly what it reflected. He could not do anything but wait, since he was tied to a chair. He knew exactly what it meant and the mere thought of it made him shiver._

_He felt fear begin to spread throughout his being, he could not believe that this would happen again ... he had believed that the web of lies he had said the last time had been enough to leave them all alone. It was his duty to take care of everyone and he did not even feel it as an obligation, he did it because it was what he wanted, it was his family._

_His thoughts were interrupted when the door opened suddenly and Suho knew what he would see. One of them entered the room. It was easy to differentiate them, dressed completely in white pretending to be "doctors". Suho knew the truth, they were scientists and he knew that when they appeared it was not a good sign but the opposite ... something bad was going to happen._

_“Good morning Suho.” The young man just stared at the movements of the man in front of him trying not to show his displeasure and maintaining a stoic expression. “C’mon Suho, we've been through this many times. Things were much easier if you cooperate with us.”_

_Suho could not avoid the panic he felt in front of these people, especially when it was he who refused to reveal his abilities to them. They were scientists who only went under rumors and the young man had the hope that if they did not do anything out of the ordinary they would let them go ... he had to keep his hopes in it. But he knew that was less and less likely._  
   
“Well… I suppose we have no other choice.” There were sounds on the other side of the room and what the young man thought was a mirror turned out to be a crystal division.

  
A light revealed what was on the other side of it. Suho could not contain the exclamation that came out of his mouth when he managed to differentiate the scene. Two tall, sturdy men dressed in white uniforms entered the room, their faces covered with masks. Their uniforms were different from those of the scientists so they looked like guards. What made Suho squeeze his hands tightly was the young man they brought in his arms.  
   
“No ... ..” Suho could feel his breathing speed up from the moment the young man on the other side looked up and Suho could see the fear and confusion in his eyes. “What ... What do you want?”

_  
“You know exactly what I want Suho, answers.”_

_  
“You want to talk to me, I understand but ... why is he here?” Suho turned his gaze trying to find Yixing's.  “What does this mean?”_

_  
“I want you to be aware Suho that your actions affect everyone. But the truth is I thought you would not believe me if I just told you so, why not show it to you?”_

_“... Show me what?”_

_  
“Show you that those who have control of the situation is not you. He is here to be your incentive.”_

_  
“My ... my ... what?”  Before Suho could refute or claim he heard screams from the other side of the room. His eyes went quickly to the sound and he regretted having done it, he knew what was going to happen ... They would torture Yixing until he spoke._

_  
“No!! ... Enough! Do not hurt him! What are you doing to him?!” He tried to get up from the chair and move his arms but the ties did not allow it. He felt useless because he could not do anything to help Yixing, he knew he had his power but he could not reveal it to them. I he did so, all his efforts would be in vain._

_  
The shouts from the other side of the room stopped, but Suho's heart beat a thousand times an hour. He could see that the two guards still held the young man by his arms, proceeding to drag him to a chair and leave him in the same conditions as Suho, tied to it. One of them held a syringe in his free hand and the other held a device that Suho knew very well, it was a stabilizer that electrified his body, which they had just used ... he did not want to know what that injection would do to him. He had to do something soon, he could not let them keep hurting him._

_  
“The only thing you have to do is talk to me Suho ... otherwise.” Yixing's screams intensified more and more._

 

 

 

 

 

It was the sound of the alarm that woke him up, he sat up looking around, but in spite of it the images kept playing in front of his eyes, because it had not been a simple dream but a memory. A very unpleasant memory. It was the first night in days that he allowed himself to sleep and this kind of dreams attacked him again making him feel more and more tired.

His apartment had books, papers and documents everywhere, he needed answers and the eclipse was getting closer, which meant he had less time. Especially when he felt that each time he got closer to the answers he needed, they moved away again and left new questions to be answered.

He got up trying to dispel those memories from his mind. Once he got to the bathroom and saw his reflection, he could see that not only did he feel tired, but he also appeared to be tired. He was sure that if the other members saw him in that state they would make fun of him.  
   
Surely Baekhyun, Chanyeol and Jongdae would spend hours and hours bothering about how he had aged so much in a short time that even his hair would turn white in a matter of days being the grandfather of all. Kyungsoo would only roll his eyes and he would not give much importance to him, if instead the jokes had been towards him, he would make sure that Chanyeol and Baekhyun suffered the consequences. Jongin surely would not notice it because he would be somewhere sleeping. Kris and Sehun could put their stoic faces pretending that nothing matters to them. Tao would try to defend him ... after laughing with the others. Minseok and Luhan would only be relieved by the fact that despite being older they would look younger than him. And Yixing ... Yixing would try to cheer him up even though he knew Suho did not really get mad about that kind of thing.

He could not afford to think about that kind of scenario again, it just made him feel sadder. He had spent the entire week in his apartment and decided he needed a change of environment.  
  
He always kept alert about his surroundings, that is why his "home" was located on the outskirts, it was not very difficult, since the same city was on the shores near the sea, in what for some people was considered a place abandoned, Suho made this seem habitable. It had been an old cellar and the young man took advantage of one of the cameras to make it cozier. He got the necessary furniture and installed himself, although now it could not be appreciated because the mess but it was a beautiful and spacious place.

He had to accept that the more time passed, the more depressed he felt and ... the loneliness ... it was not something that was pleasant either. He thought he had made the best decision by asking everyone to part but, it was probably the worst idea that could have crossed his mind. One of the real reasons why he had asked for them is because he could not bear to think that he could ruin it again. After all, he was the one he blamed for everything they suffered.  
  
It had been his idea to look for any source that would give them answers about the prophecy and the events that would happen in the future with such ambition that it led to dangerous contacts, and blinded by the emotion failed to see the imminent.

After falling into the hands of that terrible organization that the only thing they wanted was to study them like laboratory rats, their hands were tied. He could not afford to use his powers and escape, he had to get them all out of there safely ... but at the same time that was the problem. The place where they were prisoners was huge without mentioning that after a while they began to isolate certain members. If not for Luhan, all the escape planning would have been impossible ... and even when they thought they had the perfect plan ... not everyone could escape. Suho knew that the fault of everything had been his, that's why he tried to do everything possible to solve it now.

When leaving the cellars he found the forest that surrounded him, he supposed it was one of the reasons he felt more comfortable, being surrounded by a large forest made him feel safe. Passing through the middle of the trees he could feel it. The humidity in the environment was making his power increase, though a second thought crossed his mind: The comet. According to the legends there were two possibilities, to witness the eclipse would begin the countdown to the arrival of the comet with which their powers would increase as well as the rest of their abilities, since in addition to the individual powers that each one of them had. They all had a great physical endurance, a bit of strength over normal, if that was the case, it was possible that they could return for those who stayed behind.

Or, the other option ... each of them would lose their powers, which would be absorbed by the nature of the comet, leaving them all helpless. Although, Suho sometimes thought about it, to ended without powers they could be humans ... Wasn’t that simpler?

Suho spent several hours outside, thinking while walking. Analyzing the situation, remembering his members, their old home, trying to forget the bad memories, focusing on the smile that brought peace. It was when he returned home that he reviewed one of his last documents, they were solar registers. Finding nothing that seemed useful to him, he threw it to the other side of the room, repressing a sound of despair. He was tired of always finding dead ends.

It was at that moment that he noticed one of the newspapers that were almost below the sofa on which he was sitting. Suho had always been a lover of knowledge and learning,  that is why learning languages was an easy task and something that also enjoyed because it distract him a bit, perfectly mastering French. Focusing again on the newspaper, he noticed something unusual. There was a mention of a comet that would approach the planet. _Where did this come from? It is impossible that I have not seen it before._ Throughout the article he realized that they were not data that he did not know before, moreover the narrative seemed overrated and superficial. What made Suho interested was the photo attached to the news.  
   
There was a man who had supposedly given the interview. The supposed astronomical expert who besides his studies was a server in a church in a few cities of Marseille. What made Suho decide to look for a train to take him to that place were the decorations of that church was what had been behind that man.

In it, the young man could differentiate various symbols engraved on the walls, signs that he knew very well. Each of the members had one that represented their essence or their powers and it and they were exposed in that church.

Seeing that engraving in the church made Suho begin to look for train routes that would facilitate his arrival in the city, this could be what he was looking for, he was lucky that he was quite close even within France itself. So he quickly set out to pack and focus on a new destination: Lyon

 

 

 


	7. Almaty 20:01

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For some reason that I still can not identify this chapter was very difficult to write, my mind went blank when I repeated Jongdae's pathcode again and again but my always special KMA gave me the light with some ideas I had for this. I know that in the end it's just giving a bit of context to what we saw in the teasers but I also wanted that whatever I added was material that could be useful, ... so I hope I have done a good job or at least I tried. Also, I hope that it is not boring to read only descriptions and narratives but it is for the sake of the history. English is not my first language so feel free to point out errors in order to edit and fix them.

                                                      

 

 

To be totally honest, Chen did not remember how he had managed to escape, flee and get to Kazakhstan; however, he appeared there without any knowledge of why or how. He did not remember anything, not even his own name. "Chen" was the name he had adopted because some Kazaks had told him that he had features of a person from China, so surely he should have a Chinese name.  
   
The only thing that gave him the idea that he had been fleeing is that he felt a certain fear every day, he did not know entirely why, but also realized that he had developed a certain claustrophobia. It made him nervous to be in very small or closed rooms, making him feel dizzy and suffocated. In addition to the not very pleasant scars that ran through his body. There was something in his mind that told him it was not him who had caused them.

However, since he arrived in that unknown country he tried to learn the basics to be able to adapt, although the language was one of the great obstacles, he could master it in a short time - or at least he was trying - for some reason study and learning is something that it was not difficult for him. He considered that by not having much knowledge in his mind for not remembering his past, now any knowledge was welcomed very enthusiastically.

Sometimes it was considered that despite everything he had some luck, he could be there at that time thanks to a family that had found him near the shores of Lake Sayram. They had been very kind in taking care of him and teaching him what was necessary but Chen did not want to be a burden to them, so after a few weeks, when he could fend for himself, he tried to find a job and move out.  
   
That is why he was currently busy in the library, his new workplace. Being surrounded by books made him feel good and his boss was very kind that even when they were not very busy he allowed him to take any book and read it, thus supplying the desire for knowledge in Chen, it is special because he was not pigeonholed in a specific genre, he liked to know at least a little bit of everything.

Since his arrival in that city there was a thought that did not leave his mind, the only thing he seemed to remember was the mention of "the alignment of a comet". At first he denied it as a random thought that had come to mind but, until a few days ago in one of the local newspapers announced an alignment of planets that would cause an eclipse and according to studies, a week later it could be seen as a comet passed Near the earth, it was not yet known if said comet could bring consequence for nature or if it would simply be a visual spectacle. One of the things that seemed curious is that the eclipse was not going to be visible in all parts of the world, but in certain specific cities, and Almaty would be one of them.

He must have admitted that not remembering anything about his past, even about himself, was sometimes exasperating to Chen. There were nights when he decided to visit Sayram Lake again to see if he could remember something when he was in the place where he appeared, in the same way there were times when he went up to the roof of a desolate building near his "temporary home”. Sometimes he spent hours watching the dark sky waiting for an answer that would give him some relief ... but it never came. He used those moments to think about, _what kind of person I used to be?_ Did he have friends, family? What was his real home? Many possible scenarios were around his head trying to answer those questions.

It was the nights that sometimes tormented him. There were times when he was aware that he was awakened by nightmares, but was never able to remember what they were dealing with ... He did not know whether to consider it as something good or bad, what he was aware of was the fear he felt, besides the burning in his scars, so he considered that whatever he could not remember was connected to them. It seemed that the only thing that calmed him was the vague memory of him laughing with absolute happiness, a pair of big sweet eyes, and a smile so charming that it was able to steal his breath. With that simple thought tears appeared in his eyes, ceasing until he fell asleep again ... making him feel incomplete and empty.

Something that then caught his attention is that every time he woke up from his nightmares the weather seemed a bit strange, at first he did not give importance but when this happened more often, especially because there were no storms only thunder and lightning, it seemed strange to him. It was until one night that everything changed.

After a few days he could not help it anymore, he had not been able to fall asleep again, making him feel more tired and irritated besides that he felt rushed, as if time was going to end, he did not know why but it made him feel nervous. So he went to the only place that made him feel calm, Sayram Lake.  
   
He thought that the place might make him remember something this time but ... nothing. No matter how hard he tried he did not remember anything, he was normally a calm and patient person but the anger and frustration of feeling lost and confused took over him, making him feel even more irritated and when he felt he could not anymore he decided to take him out, shouting with all his strength, trying to get through all the frustration he felt. It was at that very moment that a lightning bolt appeared in the middle of that clear sky.

 While trying to catch my breath he thought, _the logic is that if there are dark clouds it is obvious that there will be lightning, but if the sky is free of water laden clouds ..._ He blinked and started to feel the fear running through his body. The more lightning accompanied by thunder appeared. He felt like a complete idiot but, he raised his hand in the direction of heaven and it happened. He watched as a lightning bolt appeared from his hand towards the sky.

He was so surprised that he felt his legs fail him and he fell to his knees on the floor. He directed his gaze to his hands, observing them carefully, they did not seem affected by the lightning, any pain ... nothing ... while many questions overwhelmed him. _What the hell just happened? This cannot be possible ... Who ... not ... What am I?_


	8. Lyon 06:26

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: As I said before this story has certain mentions of violence, hurt and to some extent a bit of torture so I felt the need to put the warning this time even if they are merely implicit mentions. I do not approve of any kind of violence, in this case it is only for the sake of story, if you are uncomfortable feel free to skip some parts. English is not my first language and this chapter turned out to be a little longer than the previous ones so I apologize if there are spelling or grammatical errors, feel free to point them out so I can correct them, thanks.

                                                        

It could be said that there were many things he hated in the world but hating was different from being afraid, and Baekhyun had a certain fear of loneliness and darkness. In the past he had mocked Tao for it but after having experienced them in the form of torture ... that kind of thing now causes nightmares.  
   
He thought that it was because of his free nature and a little extroverted that he didn’t like being alone, he did not feel at ease, and what made him bored in the past, now he was anxious. Although unfortunately it is not as if he had an option but he needed someone to talk to, socialize, feel that there would always be someone at his side, even just to keep him company. And even if before the members complained about how scandalous he could be, he knew that even he kept them entertained.

   
That is why on one of his first nights, while walking through the streets of what was known as the third most populated city in France under the rain, he could distinguish something strange at the bottom of an alley, it was an abandoned box. He was about to ignore it when he heard sounds coming from it, he looked at both sides of the sidewalk watching if someone else stopped or if he had just imagined it but the scenario did not change. The few people around him followed his hurried ways trying to cover themselves with the rain that had suddenly begun to fall leaving the young man only with the unknown, as he approached his heart shuddered with what he found. It was a small abandoned puppy. He listened as the little puppy cried and seemed to tremble.

   
Baekhyun bent down to be at the height of the puppy and could see that he was wounded, his white fur was currently a shade of gray due to dirt and rain but also had red patches that he assumed was blood, besides being a bit neglected and undernourished. He didn’t know if the reason he decided to rescue him is because he was not so cruel as to leave him there alone ... or because he somehow felt identified with the puppy, after all both seemed to have gone through a lot. So he decided to stay with him and give him the care he needed.

 Sometimes he thought that his life would be simpler if he didn’t remember anything, but that was a joy that did not last for a long time. He had woken up in a hospital with the only knowledge of his name and in the week he was hospitalized while his wounds healed is that he remembered little by little as the days went by.

   
No matter how hard he tried he could not forget those people, if he could still call them that, for Baekhyun they were nothing but monsters in their hideous white suits and masks.

   
The pain ... the pain was one of the things that he remembered most, there was even a moment in which he believed that he himself had become something immune to the pain, since it was too constant that when he spent days without seeing any trace of the doctors he knew that they were only waiting for the wounds they had caused before to have time to close, to be replaced by new ones. Making him always be waiting with constant fear.

   
There were times when he wondered if he was the only one they treated that way, if that was the case ... he was relieved, he did not want any of the others to experience the endless torture he faced. Since they had been imprisoned everything had changed, he did not even realize how quickly everything had happened.

   
There was a time when everything was too good ... well, maybe not everything, that is twelve young people with strange powers in a single house was chaotic at times. Although he admitted that most of the time it was because of him, but nobody complained about it ... well, maybe they did, constantly complaining about the noise, how he could not remain silent or quiet for a long time and that's not to mention the disorder, especially when he used to have his "crime companions" as Suho called them.  
   
Chanyeol used to bother the rest of the members, Jongdae loved to make jokes to others, that's why the house was a constant chaos. Baekhyun, Chanyeol and Jongdae seemed to enjoy it and seemed to have some fixation on a common goal: Kyungsoo. It was too funny to bother the younger, even if he later decided to take revenge by using force against them, and Kyungsoo's strength was no joke.

 Despite remembering his family, Baekhyun felt more pain when remembering his members, maybe it was because in their homes their families were something rather secondary, the laws were very different and well, also the fact that they were a special case. And besides, it's not like Baekhyun had good memories of his parents. At home he had never understood what other people called the "warmth of a family" until he met the members so he was eternally grateful to them especially with Minseok, he did not know why but despite getting along with everyone he felt a different relationship with Minseok and Jongdae because they always took care of him.

   
Each one was separated from their families as soon as they discovered that they were different because of their abilities, since it was not very normal to have that kind of powers, it even went to the extent that they were called "guardians".

  
Particularly, Baekhyun believed that they exaggerated, they were only a little different because in addition to their individual abilities they had a little more strength, not like Kyungsoo's but they were not particularly weak and despite this, there were people who imprisoned them. Kris used to be what everyone considered a father, because he always gave an air of authority and it was he who insisted on using his powers and making them pay for everything they had done, but Suho was always the voice of reason.

   
He supposed that his leader must have thought the same thing many times but ... it just was not in his nature to be cruel. Or at least that's what Baekhyun remembered, after all they separated him from the others. He was aware that they wanted to find answers as they were and they tried to do it separately.  
   
At the beginning he had the relief that was provided by being with the members, but until one night they decided to separate him from the rest, he did not know if it was only him or they had done the same with the others.

  
He lost count of the times his body had suffered under the blade of the scalpels, or when he felt the effects of the stabilizers that in addition to the immediate electric charge left his body weak and stunned.

 It was until they escaped that he realized the manifestation of their fears. When he began to remember things even during his hospital stay, weak because of the countless wounds on his body - which he later recalled that these had been the ones that Yixing did not have time to heal- He was scared and when the doctors and nurses had tried to help him, he suffered small panic attacks. He did not trust anyone. He became a more closed person. He did not like to admit it but now he felt vulnerable, the only thing that comforted him was King being now his only support. If he had to leave his apartment, he tried to change his appearance a bit so that he would look more confident, building a tougher personality. He thought that would keep the rest of the people away.

   
King certainly kept him busy clearing his mind, taking care of him, healing his wounds and giving him the love he needed. When he finished his treatment and his wounds had healed completely, he could see that the little Samoyed really had things in common with him, remembering the jokes that others used to make him say he looked like a puppy, King's coat of a pure white color used to sometimes relate it to his own power, however King developed an over protective instinct towards Baekhyun. Every time the young man woke up terrified by the nightmares, the faithful puppy was at his side to keep him company, even so most of the nights he managed to sleep due to fatigue.

   
When he was in his bed ready to sleep, with the lights off and King at his side, he used his power. The light made him feel calm, knowing that there was nothing hidden in the darkness but in the same way, it was lacking in warmth. _No matter the weather, he always felt cold._

   
Since he had use of reason, he had been sensitive to the cold and his light did not radiate heat that was why he remembered Chanyeol at that moment. His huge eyes that for some were strange, Baekhyun found them adorable. His usual smile that regardless of the situation in which they were he tried to affect everyone at least with a bit of his "happy virus". The difference between them both made Baekhyun feel protected every time he was by his side. But if there was something that Baekhyun longed for, it was Chanyeol's hugs. They always made him feel safe and the fact of having the power of fire made him feel warm. He trusted him enough to know that his fire would never hurt him, even if Chanyeol himself doubted his self-control, Baekhyun knew there was nothing to fear.

   
The memory of Chanyeol was the only thing that made him sleep peacefully at night. The thought of him made his eyes sting to the point of letting out countless tears, and he managed to fall asleep after crying so much and also because of the fatigue caused by using his power all night.

 He tried to avoid leaving home, because now he was not aware of his attitude when he was in crowds. He used to shudder if someone skimmed accidentally, walked without looking up and spoke with people only if necessary, although luckily most of the time he had King with him who kept him distracted.  
   
On this occasion he decided to go out at night, alone. A few days ago he had seen something that caught his attention: a story in one of the newspapers, which was about a supposed astronomical connoisseur who in addition to his studies was a servant in a church in Lyon, because of the photograph Baekhyun could recognize it, it was the Notre-Dame de Fourvière Basilica.

   
He knew that because it was a large church it was also visited daily by the faithful and tourists, but he had never approached it until that day.

   
The only reason he had been encouraged to go out at night is because there was no point in staying home if he could not sleep peacefully, thinking that he could probably get answers about the nature of his powers, the ancient legend that his instructors spoke and for which they had been trained. He thought about clarify these and other doubts because in the photograph that accompanied the news he could differentiate various symbols engraved on the walls of the basilica, he did not know if he had been able to identify them correctly but he had to take risks.

   
The basilica was surrounded by many empty alleys lighted by lamps in each of the corners, but did not provide the lighting that the young man expected. The only thing that gave him comfort was his bracelet. Remembering at all times who he truly was and that he wasn’t weak. His bracelet was his symbol, one that represented his power. He considered himself fortunate to have kept it and he owed it to Kyungsoo.

 

He had to admit that the church was beautiful and even though the front façade looked exactly like the clipping of the news, one that particularly carried to compare it with it. He moved towards one of the sides of the basilica and in effect, the engravings that were on the edges were the symbols he knew very well. From Minseok's snowflake to the wind symbol of Sehun.

   
Baekhyun did not know what to think about it, this could be one of the clues that Suho was looking for about the ancient legends and the true purpose of his powers, his so strange "mission". However, the place was too empty and silent so it did nothing but make him nervous, so he took repeated photographs of the prints, especially to those what seemed to be letters that he did not recognize.  
He hurried out of there as fast as he could, walking through the alleys looking for the exit while holding an earphone in his ear - there were times when he listened to the radio waiting for news and at other times simply to listen to some melody that kept distracted, but stopped short when he heard something similar to static. He was about to take it off when he heard a very familiar voice _: "...Run...”_ It took a second to react because he was sure that the voice he had just heard was... Luhan.

   
He did not think about it anymore and without looking back he ran down the alleys as fast as he could, the only thing that was going through his mind was _run, run, run._ With its passage it was extinguishing the lights of the lanterns around with the hope of hiding himself a little in the dark, and because the alleys were high buildings they projected a great shade.

   
When he crossed at the last corner he found a fence. He tried to move it but it was very well secured. He was sure that when he had entered he had made sure to leave it open, perhaps ... Was there someone else there? His breathing was tired from having run and not being able to pass through the grate made the panic increase, he turned around leaning on the fence, it was when he contemplated returning that he heard it. Everything was absolute silence for a few seconds, until he heard the sound of footsteps approaching. He tried to get away as far as he could but it was a dead end and whatever was coming did not make him feel safe.

   
He had left a single lamp lit, the one that was right next to the fence where he was, so he could not identify who the person was approaching. From his shadow he could see that he was a tall, thin person, with broad shoulders and a little sturdy due to his marked muscles. There was something in his complexion that was familiar to him, he kept going until he got close enough to be illuminated by the light. A lot of emotions ran through his body when he managed to differentiate the person who was a short distance away from him, he did not know whether to cry from the emotion, the panic he felt or the same nostalgia to see him again, but he felt dazed for the thousand questions that ran through his head.

   
“Kris-hyung? ... You ... You're alive! Are you okay? How did you manage to escape? Is Luhan-hyung safe too?” The elder did nothing but stare at him with his stoic expression as always but for some reason Baekhyun felt like he was different than usual.

 

“... Kris ... hyung?” The younger had always felt that Kris's look could be intimidating and apparently that hadn’t changed. Even without saying a single word, the elder advanced towards Baekhyun took him tightly by the arm, separating him from the fence and gave him a blow in the stomach, taking the boy by surprise. Quickly he positioned himself behind the other, immobilizing his arms to his back while holding him at the same time. Everything happened so fast that Baekhyun did not have the opportunity to recover after the blow.

   
“What are you doing?” Baekhyun struggled a little trying to break free, but it was impossible because Kris’s grip was too strong. “What's wrong Hyung ?! Don’t you have your memories back?”

   
“What a pleasure to meet again, Baekhyun.” That voice. It seemed that Kris was not alone but that voice ... only made his biggest fears come alive when the second shadow revealed itself. He could differentiate those uniforms anywhere. He was not aware of the moment when he began to tremble much less than trying to pull away again, but his strength was nothing compared to Kris, who seemed to keep him immobilized very easily.

 

 “You know there's no point in you resisting, what do you think about returning with me little one? We left many conversations halfway and believe me I still have many questions to ask you.”

   
“No, no ... I ... no, I never” he tried to show that he was not afraid of them again but it was impossible to maintain a façade at the moment when he was struggling to stop stuttering.

   
"Kris, if you don’t mind." Kris's grip intensified so that it was too painful, causing Baekhyun to let out an exclamation of pain, he was sure he would bruise later. He felt how Kris was pushing him or rather dragging him to his former captors. He tried to resist but his efforts were in vain, he turned his head trying to catch for Kris’s eyes but was not surprised when he saw the absents look in the older.

   
“No, wait, wait, Kris! Why are you doing this?! I don’t want to!! I don’t want to go back there!” He could hear his increasingly desperate tone trying to make Kris come to his senses. He had always been like an overprotective brother with all the members and now...

   
“Don’t bother, he only listens to me.  I did not want to do this but it seems that maybe you need my help.” Baekhyun could see how in one of his hands he held a syringe with a strange green liquid in it, making the boy just struggle again, this time with all his strength as he felt tears begin to fall from his eyes.

   
“Don’t!! Please no, not again ... no ... no ...” Desperation seized him and the only thought screaming in his head was anything to help him escape, which is why he ended up using his power. He didn’t know if it was due to adrenaline, fear or both but he could feel a lot of energy running through his veins. The only lantern that was left with light illuminating the area in which they were, exploded. But the darkness did not last because Baekhyun's entire body lit up too much that he was not conscious with the measurement of his power. The light was so strong that it seemed as if the sun itself shone in that alley. Kris's grip weakened and he let go immediately, but not only because of the intense light that made his eyes burn but also because Baekhyun's own body seemed to burn with touch. He took advantage of that moment to escape.

 He returned to normal and ran in search of another exit leaving his attackers on the ground while they covered their eyes. He ran as fast as he could but due to the amount of energy he had used he felt weak and it was a matter of secons when he began to feel that it was increasingly difficult for him to breathe and remain standing.

   
He did not know very well how he managed to get out of the edges of the basilica and stopped slowly looking back while trying to catch his breath. He saw no signs of being persecuted but he knew he couldn’t trust that easly so he prepared to return home, he had to think about where he would go because it was obvious that he couldn’t stay in Lyon anymore, he had to take a train and flee again.

   
He couldn’t afford to rest, he was running when he felt a grip on the right side and someone dragging him into the darkness of another alley, felt how he was forced to one of the walls being immobilized again.  
   
“NOOOOO! NOOOO!” Baekhyun felt someone immobilize him and covered his mouth so he would not make any sound.

   
“Shhhhh! Baekhyun!! Quiet! Be quiet. You must keep silence. You have to calm down.” The boy stopped fighting when he recognized that voice, he could feel his heart about to explode but obeyed. They spent a few minutes in the unwavering silence before the older decided to move again, releasing Baekhyun and peering around the corner to see the perimeter.

   
“I think it's safe now... I never thought that this kind of thing happened, Baekhyun, are you hurt?” It was at that moment that the boy released the air that he did not realize he was holding, his legs failed him and would have fallen floor if not for some arms that held it. “Baekhyun?! What's wrong, are you okay?”

  
All the feelings he had been holding back and reliving the events he had just experienced came rushing to him and he could not contain it anymore, let the tears roll down his cheeks and let his head rest on the chest of the young man who was holding him. He didn’t hesitate to embrace Baekhyun and feeling like the younger trembled in his arms.

   
“It's okay. You’re okay now, you are safe.” If there was something that Baekhyun had missed the most were the moments when he allowed himself to be weak, when he knew there was someone he could trust, who could console him when he needed it the most. He could say that he felt safe in the Suho’s arms who had always been that figure who took care of others.

   
After a few minutes, when he felt that the boy had calmed down a bit, he started again. "What happened?" Suho felt Baekhyun hold on tightly while trying to comfort him.

   
“... Kris ...”

   
“What?” The boy let go of Suho to see his face, his eyes still with visible traces of tears.

   
“Kris-hyung. He…. He is with them.”

   
“Them? Wait, is Kris okay? We should go for him, maybe he-.”

   
“NO!” Baekhyun took Suho by the arm who was preparing to return. “No Suho, you don’t understand. Kris is not the same, I think ... I think they did something with him. They are manipulating him.”

   
“Manipulating? ... With _them_ you mean...? ... You better tell me everything but in another place, we are not safe out here.”  Suho stood up helping the other who looked extremely tired and pale.

   
“I know where we can go.”

   
“Are you sure you can walk?”  Although Baekhyun nodded his head to affirm, Suho could see how the boy made an effort to stand, so he helped him walk as he led the way.


	9. Yunnan 22:12

                                                       

 

 

It had been like any other day, and somehow that made him feel calm. Although it was still a bit difficult to adapt to the modalities of his new job, he would somehow do it ... despite being a little distracted.

Having two jobs at the same time was certainly exhausting but it was what he wanted after all, besides, his bosses were understanding, so working in a restaurant and in the bakery was not very complicated, and also in both he had to follow the same dynamic or at least something similar to that, adding the fact that he loved to cook especially desserts.

He began his days helping his grandfather in the restaurant until lunchtime which was the most crucial moment of the day, well he was not really his grandfather but he felt like one, after all he was he who had welcomed him and helped him even when couldn’t remember anything of his past, old Zhou did not seem to mind, and he didn’t thought he was a bad person. For some reason one of the things that makes him very happy about Zhou is that he gave him a name, Lay.

He was eternally grateful for it, in addition to having welcomed him and taking care of him while he was fully recovering, there were a lot of things that Lay was grateful for and he knew that no matter what he did, it would be enough to repay him, and although he was willing to pay him in some way Zhou would not let him, so they came to an agreement. Since he ran a restaurant Lay would help him during the morning, it's the least he could do. With the passage of time he decided to look for another job to help his grandfather and although the older was against it, he could not stop the young man's determination.

 He was lucky enough to have seen the ad in a coffee shop near the center of the city while returning from the supermarket with fresh ingredients for the restaurant. So without thinking twice he took the opportunity. Despite having started working as a waiter, he ended up as a baker's assistant.

Cooking made him feeling calm and at least the recipes seemed simple and easy to remember and if by any case he forgot some ingredient, he ended up changing it for another and the result was the same or even better, so much that he had contributed in the creation of new recipes in the bakery.

He did not feel like both jobs got too tired, even though he was not the healthiest person, he could handle it and that was more than enough.

Although Lay did not remember his past, he felt calm, perhaps the fact of having lost his memories was a new opportunity, and of course that was what the old Zhou constantly told him. Actually, Lay felt grateful because China was a very big country with a lot of people, any of them could have ignored him and let him die, but he was founded by a person who could take care of him and even treat him as a family. Despite not appearing, Lay could be very observant and noticed very well the different looks of Zhou, some of them were always full of melancholy which, if Lay remembered well it tend to appear every time the oldest remembered his late son. The young man thought that maybe that was a reason why the older one filled him with attention and affection since apparently he could not do it with his own son anymore.

One of the things that Lay longed for each day was the long talks with the older one. After leaving the bakery he returned to the restaurant to help clean and close the place, that's when he appreciated that the business and his house were a single place, the restaurant occupying the entire first floor and the second as a comfortable apartment for both. He considered that one of the reasons why old Zhou was telling stories was because at the beginning it was what he used to break the ice when he had just taken him in, but over the weeks it became more of a habit, more like nocturnal stories. From old anecdotes or stories he listened to on the radio to the stories that Lay thought should be put on paper and create good books based on them.

One he recall the most was the story of a group of people with extraordinary it could sound with many clichés and full of fiction but for some reason Lay considered it entertaining, although Zhou never gave a good ending to the story and each time the younger asked why, the other only replied that it was not his place to give him an end so hastily, maybe he thought that if he finished it he would be left without stories to tell.

There was one of the things that Zhou could not stop thinking about, Lay was sure. He did not know much about medical terms but from his first memories, things were not very good for him. His body with a few bruises, weak and on a hospital stretcher. When he found himself a little more stable, the doctors explained how he had arrived there and who had helped him and although they were all too friendly, Lay could not help but feel very confused, he did not remember who he was or where he came from. It was with the with some time and Zhou’s help who was always at his side to help him when he needed him, that he was able to leave the hospital, however there was something that they could not cure, Hemophilia.

Apparently it was a genetic disease that prevents the proper coagulation of blood, at the beginning the young man did not understand exactly the consequences or the danger of his illness but he knew he had to be careful. Unfortunately, being somewhat distracted was at the same time dangerous, especially after the other big accident.

  
The distance that existed between the bakery and the restaurant was not much so there was no need to use the train, so Lay opted for a bicycle as transport, the streets of the city were always in constant motion at all times, employees rushing to their jobs, children running to get to schools before it was too late, not to mention the crazy and reckless drivers. That's why Lay was once forced to return to the hospital.

It was a day after his shift in the restaurant, it had been a very busy day so he could not finish his shift at the usual time and despite having notified the bakery about the delay, he felt it was his responsibility to try to do everything possible to arrive on time. So once the number of customers decreased he was quick to get to the bakery, and it was at one of the intersections where it happened. He was going too fast that he did not notice the car that was coming on his way.

Although the driver was not going at great speed it was a strong impact for Lay. Quickly the people who were in the streets in those moments and witnessed the accident called an ambulance. When the news reached Zhou he went immediately to the hospital, fortunately Lay had no deep wounds, no fractures. The only thing that worried them was the blow that Lay received on his hip when the front of the car collided with him, as well as a blow to the head with a possible contusion.

The doctors had been concerned at first about the amount of blood that Lay had lost in the accident, after all it was something they could not avoid but control, after many medications and necessary care. This caused the young man to be unconscious for two whole day with Zhou always staying by his side. The older one could not explain why he had such an overprotective instinct about Lay, and the fact of seeing him on the hospital bed made something in his heart contract, he knew that no one could replace his son or erase the mistakes he made. in the past but ... he felt that finding the young man and helping him was a possible way of redeeming himself for the atrocities he had done before arriving in China, as a new opportunity, and he was willing to take it.

It was a few days after the accident that Lay was able to go back home, old Zhou being somewhat persistent about his break did not allow the young man to work for many hours in a row, in some sort of way he was working full time since he was only helping in the restaurant. His other boss, the owner of the bakery, had given him a month to recover completely and also gave him a little break because of how hard he had worked the days before the accident.

That is why the young man was currently with a lot of free time, not that he did not appreciate it on the contrary. He took the time to think hard, at first he thought he could go on living without any memories of his past but ... lately he had been feeling strange, he could not explain how simply ... strange.

The weather had begun to change and the afternoons were occupied by light rains, making the streets less crowded by people who are now moving faster to seek refuge. While Lay cleaned one of the tables that were at the bottom next to the windows he heard the faint sound of the rain, he did not know why but the sound of it attracted his attention, relaxing him.

Zhou had noticed that Lay was a little more distracted than usual if that was possible, but in a different way. He could see how every time it started to rain, Lay stopped doing whatever it was he was doing and his gaze became distant with a serene expression on his face. He had even noticed the marked bags under his eyes, guessing that he probably wasn’t sleeping very well although the older one had an idea of why.

The first rain started at night and old Zhou had been reading his old books he kept hidden out Lay’s reach, who was supposed to have been resting for hours, but when Zhou was going to his bed to finish his day he saw how the younger left his room, stopping in front of one of the walls which was made of tempered glass, being this not only as a window but rather as a small balcony. He watched as Lay rested his hand on the window watching the rain fall delicately.

“... Lay? Is something wrong?” When he did not get any response from the boy, he approached him with a hand on his shoulder, who apparently had not heard before and was startled by the contact.

“Are you okay? I thought you were asleep.”

“…Yes. I don’t know, the rain ... the rain woke me up.”

“Well, do you want me to make you tea so you can sleep again? You still need to rest as much as you can, you gave me a good scare the last time.”

“No, I am not good. I'll ... I'll go back to sleep later I just want to ..." He must have paid more attention to Lay that night, frowning with a sad eyes while his hand was still resting on the window. He gave a last squeeze on the boy's shoulder and went to rest, however the next morning found Lay sitting in front of the window with his eyes lost ... it had stopped raining.  
   
That's when it had started, Zhou was not sure what was happening but it seemed like the rain made Lay a little melancholy. It was not necessary to get up every night to corroborate that every time it rained Lay did not sleep for a second at night.

There were times when the young man went to the roof and let the light rain fall on him until he was soaking wet, he did not know why but he felt empty. He thought it was probably the feeling that some people related to the rain but at the same time a part of him repeated that it was not the real reason. Zhou was worried because he did not know how to help him, especially when he realized that sometimes when it rained, the boy's eyes filled with tears.

He thought that one of the things that could distract the boy a little was if he kept him busy, so he asked for his help more often in the restaurant but not too much after all, it had not been long after the accident. It had been a rather strenuous day in the restaurant and they had been short in the kitchen so Lay had to go out and buy fresh ingredients for the next day, while Zhou finished serving the last customers.

By the time Lay returned he found the restaurant empty, he ordered all the purchases on the shelves that corresponded and went to the main room, there was a vase on the counter, and he knew he had forgotten something. It contained what a few days ago had been beautiful flowers but unfortunately now they had withered. Some of them had lost their color and others had detached some of their petals, which were scattered on the counter. But it was too late he would change them the next day, He just had to cut them out of the back garden after all they had a great variety of flowers there.

At the next table he found the older man lying on a chair he approached him and tried to wake him up suggesting that he should rest, both deserved it after all, but the older decided it would be good to have some tea before going to sleep, since according to him it always helped him to rest more.

“Lay ... Are you sure you feel okay? You've been acting very different” the elder asked, as he placed both cups on the table and took a seat in front of the boy.

“I do not know.”

“Does it have to do with the rain?”

“...” The young man did not know what to answer, he had no idea what was happening to him…he just felt weak.

“I think this is a good thing. Of course it depends on how you see it. I mean, possibly your subconscious is remembering things.”

“... Do you think so? ... But, I do not remember anything. No image of someone, something or anything in my life before I met you.”

“Maybe your brain does not remember anything, but surely your body does, so you unconsciously react in this way and feel whatever it is you are feeling now.”

“But .... If so ... Should not I have reacted before only with the water? I mean the rain is just that ... Water.”

 “It may have meant something different for you before. Don’t you think?”

“Maybe…. I just ... I do not know if I want to remember something. I ... I want to know what kind of person I was before, but I'm happy, what if I wasn’t before? I mean, just remember my condition when you found me ... I think I suffered a lot but why? Did I do something wrong? Something so bad that I deserved that kind of treatment? I ..." Seeing that Lay began to get scared, the older man extended his arm until he found the hand of the other and tried to comfort him.

“Hey, hey. It’s okay. Do not rush to draw conclusions from something you don’t know yet. Now, what do you say, are you willing to listen to another of this old man's stories?”

“... Always.” Seeing Lay's sincere smile with his characteristic dimple made him feel a little better.  
   
Maybe that was what he needed for a while. He had forgotten how much he loved just sitting and talking with Zhou, hearing his stories was like watching an old film unfold before his eyes imagining every detail. When he saw that the older one struggled more and more to keep awake, he insisted that he go up to rest, Lay could turn everything off and finish ordering, at the insistence and fatigue the other did nothing but obey. However when the boy was left alone the feeling came to him again, so he took his cell phone and after searching a lot he selected a song to distract himself.

If what Zhou said was true, and he was unconsciously remembering things he should be able to decipher them, that is why he began to write the first thing that came to his mind when he remembered the previous days, while still listening to music. When he least expected it, he had written three sentences:

_You are my sunshine_

_I need you_

_You are the one_

   
He was not quite sure why those were the words he had written, he was not even aware of writing them ... maybe Zhou was right and his subconscious was remembering things. He was thinking what could be the reason for those words when the lights started to blink and then his phone started making strange noises, like the sound of interference and the screen distorted and saw how in seconds strange scenes were formed and could differentiate a of them, but there was something that terrified him, a face. He dropped the phone and got up hastily, he could feel his heart beating fast, he did not have much time to think about what he had just seen when he began to hear something in the earphone that was still in his ear: _Yixing ... There is not much time left ... .Suho ... find._

 _“Suho? ... Who was Suho_?” The mention of that name caused him a weight in his heart and the tears began to leave his eyes without any explanation ... _Is it someone from my past? And that voice ... not ... I ..._ The word confused fell short to express what the young man felt at those moments, he must be very tired to be hallucinating things, or at least that's what the young man repeated to explain what just happened. He decided that that was all for the day, he was not sure what was happening, he contemplated leaving his cell phone where it was but ... surely it was just a malfunction or a glitch.

He turned off the remaining lights and made sure that the doors were secure, he was surprised that he could keep walking when his legs were shaking uncontrollably, his heart was beating too fast and his mind could not stop thinking about what had happened. He leaned a little on the counter trying to calm his heart, focusing his breathing. _Could it be that there was something wrong with him and now he was hallucinating?_

He took one of the wilted flowers from the counter and saw how one of its last petals gave off without paying much attention, just thinking about that name again ... _Suho ... Suho_ ... even the pronunciation sounded familiar. When he calmed down a bit, he took a deep breath and decided that it was not good for him to keep thinking that kind of thing at the moment.  The next day he would talk to Zhou and surely he would tell him that everything was fine and that he didn’t have to worry about anything. He left the dry stem on the counter thinking that changing the flowers will be one of the first things he would do in the morning while he was going to the second floor to rest, but he did not realize that the flower he had been holding a few seconds ago It was now in its maximum splendor, with all its color, new petals, as if it had just blossomed again ... like the rest of the flowers on the counter.

 

 


	10. Colorado 09:01

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter contains mentions of violence and torture, if you feel uncomfortable you can skip those parts.
> 
> I would like to thank all the people who are reading my story, this is the last one based on what we had of the pathcodes the rest is based on my theory for this au! as well as some of the VCRs of the concerts, hope you enjoy.

                                                        

 

 

 

 

_Even if he was running as fast as he could it felt like it wasn’t enough. The place was huge and with the great labyrinth of corridors that made him doubt if he was on the right path. "The corridor with the lights off on the lowest floor" is what Luhan had said before, but he thought that finding it would be easier. Although he had not encountered many guards he was always alert, and is seemed like the distraction planned by Kris and Luhan was working, so he had to do his part._

 

_He knew they didn’t have much time, the place was bigger than expected but fortunately most of the members were together so escape would be easier, or at least he thought so. He did not realize when the halls were getting darker and although it made him feel nervous he knew he was on the right track._

 

_The first door he found seemed to be made of metal, he tried to open it by the lock but it was closed, he tried to push it and it didn’t work either. It was then that he thought he had no choice, stepped back a few steps, took a deep breath and rushed at the door using his strength. As expected, not even a heavy metal door was enough to stop Kyungsoo._

 

_The interior of the room was illuminated by a single light bulb, producing the necessary light to orient itself within it. At the center of the room was a bed and Kyungsoo ran quickly towards it, as he supposed there was Jongdae, apparently unconscious. He shook the older one gently until it began to move. Once he got up in bed the younger could see the state in which he was: his shirt a bit torn and dirty, with a look of pain on his face in addition to how pale he looked ... not to mention the bruises that they found both in his face and in his arms and for some reason Kyungsoo was sure he hid more in the rest of his body._

 

_“Jongdae, we have to get out of here we don’t have much time, can you walk?”_

 

_“Hey ... I'm still your Hyung, why do you never use honorifics with me?”_

 

_“I do not know what is more admirable, the fact that you can say things like that in this kind of situations ... or the fact that someone has hurt you in that way.” Kyungsoo helped him get up, supporting the elder as they walked towards the door._

 

_“How did you get here? What's going on?”_

 

_“Kris, Luhan-hyung, Minseok-hyung and Suho-hyung have spent their time elaborating an escape plan since they took Baekhyun, but they did not expect that they would take Suho-hyung too. I'll explain later, we must hurry.”_

 

_“Wait, does anyone else came with you?”_

 

_“No, each one of us has a specific task, mine is to get you out of here.”_

 

_“We're going to have to separate Kyungsoo.”_

 

_“What? No! We can’t do that, we all should-"_

 

_“Listen to me first. I'll go for Yixing-hyung and you'll go for Baekhyun, understood?”_

 

_“But-"_

_“It will be faster.”  Jongdae separated from the youngest and stood up as straight as he could. “Can you see that door on the other side of the corridor? That's where Baekhyun is, Yixing-hyung is next to my cell.”_

 

_“Are you sure?”_

 

_“Trust me. You said we didn’t have much time.” The boy nodded and hurriedly knocked down the next door so that Jongdae could enter, and quickly made his way to the other end of the corridor, pouncing on the door and knocking it down once and for all._

 

_The interior was different from Jongdae's cell ... or so he thought, he couldn’t see anything. Everything was immersed in total darkness._

 

_All he could do was whisper Baekhyun's name, waiting for Baekhyun to hear him, but when he did not hear any response he remembered his symbols. Each of them had a symbol that had been given to them based on the representation of their powers, which no one knew was that they not only distinguished them from others but also were a catalyst for their abilities._

 

_Using their powers could be risky, especially because not all of them use elements of nature to manifest them, but instead use their own vital energy. They were not immortal, that was clear and there was no possibility of dying instantly by using their powers without their symbols but there was some risk of shortening their lives if they made constant use of energy without measure._

 

_Each one of them carried them differently but due to the situation they were in, they had decided to hide them so as not to attract attention and in the same way not to reveal what their ability was. Luhan had been the one who had turned each of his symbols into small platinum spheres, according to him it hadn’t been very complicated, taking into account his ability, however Kyungsoo did not understand how he had managed to transform each of his artifacts and that they would react like a magnet to their bearers if they were in difficult situations._

 

_Kyungsoo had been in charge of protecting them for this moment, he put his hands in the pockets of his pants and extracted all the spheres and saw how one of them rose by itself and was lost in the dark. He saved them again and waited a moment until he saw it, a faint light in one of the corners._

 

_He moved carefully towards the light and it was at that moment that he could distinguish it. The platinum sphere had returned to its original shape, becoming a bracelet with the symbol of a sun with eight rays which was currently emitting a soft light and floating on a figure. He could see how Baekhyun was in bad shape, worse than Jongdae's._

 

_His clothes were worn and covered with blood, his arms had countless scars and some wounds that were almost closed and other recent ones. The torso of his shirt was also marked by blood stains which made Kyungsoo worry. The bracelet adhered to Baekhyun's right hand and that made him react. He took one of Baekhyun's arms over his neck and lifted him almost dragging him towards the door._

 

_Outside the room or as Jongdae had called them: Cells, he saw Jongdae talking with a pale Yixing, who also had bruises and what seemed to be scratches. When both saw the condition in which Baekhyun was, they rushed to help him. Kyungsoo quickly handed Yixing a platinum sphere that became a ring with the symbol of a unicorn and he placed his hands on Baekhyun's forehead. The boy could see how the color returned to his face and the larger bruises began to diminish in size. Yixing quickly passed his hands over Baekhyun's arms in order to close the wounds that were still open but due to the condition he was in and to be using his powers when he was so weak he began to feel dizzy. Jongdae took his hands breaking his concentration._

 

_“What are you doing? I can still help him.”_

 

_“I know, but you're not in position to overstress either, besides ... Suho-hyung would kill me if he comes to see you in this state.” Yixing was about to reproach him when Baekhyun began to regain consciousness. Kyungsoo took off his jacket and covered him with it, most of his wounds had been closed but his shirt could barely cover him and he knew that the elder hated the cold, although something told him that was not the reason why the older didn’t stop shaking._

 

_He decided that they would be faster if he carried Baekhyun so Jongdae helped him to fit him on his back, he was not sure if it was because of his strength but the weight of the older one was like a feather._

 

_“Jongdae,I  forgot to return your symbol.” The older was going to tell him to keep it for a few more minutes when guards appeared at the end of the corridor and as soon as they saw them, they prepared their weapons. Kyungsoo felt his hands tied, Baekhyun currently on his back and Yixing's abilities were not to be used in combat._

 

_His thoughts were interrupted by the cries of pain from one of the guards. Jongdae took advantage of the moment of distraction from his partner and threw another bolt at the standing guard._

 

_“Don't use your powers like that!”_

 

_“Don't worry about Kyungsoo ... I don’t plan on holding back with them” That was the only time in his life that Kyungsoo had seen that look in Jongdae's eyes, a cold look full of satisfaction at having hurt not one but two people. “Come on, we don’t have much time.” The younger watched as Jongdae helped Yixing to stand up and started jogging down the corridor, Kyungsoo hurried to catch up on them thinking that everything was going according to plan and this time they could be free._

 

_But he was wrong._

 

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

 

There had come a point where he believed that the rest of the people were really stupid, that is, what kind of top secret organization had as security password: 1234. They were the kind of things that made him lose faith in humanity, even if he talked about the people he should hate.

 

In short, he tried not to waste time and quickly accessed the database of the organization. Although for the whole world it was recognized as a successful and millionaire company it turns out they hid a great secret. Kyungsoo’s propose wasn’t reveal those secrets to the world, since if he did they would also have to expose themselves. The only thing that really interested him was to monitor the advances that a bunch of mediocre scientists had been able to make.

 

He didn’t like to brag but he had become an exceptional computer hacker, at first he found it fun and a way to keep himself busy but now it was a very useful weapon.

 

Kyungsoo had always been one of the people who preferred to observe the situation well before acting and due to the circumstances in which he found himself, this had intensified and helped him to remain hidden. Although at the beginning he felt lost and only knew that he could not let that affect him too much, especially when he felt that he hadn’t been able to fulfill his mission well when they tried to escape.

 

He had reviewed that day a million times in his head with possible different scenarios that would have made the mission a success, but he could not do anything to change it. It was in those days when all he did was think and evaluate each of the platinum spheres that he could not return to the members before. Each of them could not return to its original form if they were not in the hands of their respective carriers, the only thing he expected was that none would be forced to make great use of their abilities. He had only nine of them, the only ones he could return were Baekhyun and Yixing when they tried to escape. His was currently on his right foot in the shape of an anklet with a small pendant that symbolized his ability, he had always considered it in a subtle way unlike Baekhyun who had previously loved to show his own in an ostentatious manner.

 

One day he decided it had been enough, they coudn’t escape and had to separate in a brusque way and worst of all is that they didn’t have their memories.... After all Luhan decided that it would be better if some members did not remember the atrocities they had to live or just forget the place where they had met. However Kyungsoo believed that this hadn’t been a good decision, he knew that Suho would feel responsible and probably the feeling of guilt would constantly attack him. Besides, what was the use of having supernatural abilities if they were not even aware that they possessed them?

 

He considered himself fortunate to be one of the members to whom the temporary amnesia of Luhan had not affected him too much and in a matter of days he could remember everything. Over the weeks he decided he should do something about it.

 

 _DO_. It was his codename in the network, he needed one just in case. He could’t stay with his arms crossed so he resorted to the resources he had. He had obtained a cheap rent in a guest house and that had been more than enough. Once he put his hands on the computer he knew he could do something.

 

Although in the beginning his hacker skills were born just to keep him busy, now it was one of the things that helped him survive. For example: Why would he get a job if he could access the database of any type of company or business? That's why Kyungsoo could do any kind of thing from his computer. From creating false identities and documents, to extracting money meticulously from the big banks.

 

They could say it was a crime, that he was a thief but that kind of thing did not affect his conscience, if others could do it, why not him? He also had one purpose in mind: To gather all the members and help Kris and Luhan escape.

 

A part of him waited daily for one of the other members to share his idea and start moving, but over time he realized that maybe he should be the one to take the initiative. That is why he was now reviewing the movement records of that organization. It was there when he saw something curious.

 

He found a list of strange events in different cities, but none seemed to have an apparent relationship. So he decided that he should investigate more. If what he thought was true, each of those cities would be the locations of the members ... the problem is that it was incomplete. The list had listed four specific cities:

Berlin  
Edinburgh  
Marseille  
Lyon  

                                                                                                  
Although it seemed that only one of them was confirmed, the rest seemed to be assumptions, he knew he couldn’t  keep wasting time. He began a thorough investigation which made him spend hours and hours in front of the screen, but after a few days he could say he had an advance. He took prominent events in newspapers around the world, looking for those who presented unexplainable situations and was discarding a little bit until he was left with a short list of 10 cities. What scared him was that four of them were on the organization's list, which could mean two things: Both could be wrong ... or someone else was already behind each of them.

 

  
It was one of the nights where he had been constantly working, searching for information that discovered something unusual. He was with the headphones on his ears - since some of the articles were accompanied by videos attached to the news - when he began to hear strange things, like the sound of static, he assumed that the electronic address should have a problem so he took them off and instead he turned on the radio to calm a little the stress and the fatigue he felt. He change the stations until he got to one that was unknown, He didn’t even know how it was that he had found it. In it he heard a constant static and what seemed to be a background voice but it seemed almost impossible to differentiate what this person said.

 

   
He dedicated some time to the radio and to locate more specifically the station where that voice was heard, something told him to keep trying and that was when he heard it, a voice he knew very well saying: _"Light ... .. Run ..”._

 

 

He didn’t know how long he remained motionless after hearing Luhan's voice, it was obvious that he was the one he had heard but how is that possible? And Light? Baekhyun ... Have they found him? He definitely didn’t have much time and less when the signs of the eclipse were already showing.

 

                                                                                                                             
After thinking it through, he came to the conclusion that Luhan had surely found a frequency to communicate with the members, and Kyungsoo had been fortunate enough to find it, although he was not sure how many more members had had that luck... and so it seemed ... Luhan was not a bearer of good news. It was what finally made him settle down and take action.

 

  
He needed a few days to make the necessary preparations. He took the money he considered necessary from a bank, transferring it to an account that was impossible to trace but sufficiently exposed to appear real. One of the first things he needed was a car, which he acquired easily, because one of the cities he would visit first was Arizona. He was not sure who he could find there, but something told him that he had to go as quickly as possible, after all he was the one closest to him.

 


	11. I

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time to move and meet again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok, this is officially the first chapter of the story, the pathcodes were kinda like the prologue, as I said from the beginning this story has been with me for years but I'm still editing small details and adding certain things as it does not have an end yet.
> 
> I wrote this before exo returned with monster and lucky one so any mention of something similar to the concept is coincidence although I will not deny that certain aspects served as inspiration for some of the more advanced chapters. Also some details of the VCR from theconcerts that I considered they resembled a little to the direction in which I handle this universe. Any comments are welcome, thanks for reading.

The boy could not react when suddenly he felt surrounded in a hug by the older one.

“Sehunnie! You have no idea how happy it makes me see you.” The younger tried to return the hug when he remembered why he was so hurried. He quickly took the older man's hand and began to drag him along.

“I also feel happy Hyung, but we should get out of here as fast as we can.” It was at that moment that he began to hear the sound of the patrols that seemed to approach. To which the older could not help thinking the worst.

 “... Sehunnie ... What did you do?”

 -Me? Nothing Hyung! Absolutely nothing! Why do you have to think that way about me? Just ... Do as I say, please? - Minseok had no choice but to follow the other through the small passages and streets until they reached a building. Sehun approached the door and quickly entered the 4-digit code and entered the interior of the complex, neither of them breaking the silence that surrounded them. Once they reached what Minseok thought was the younger's apartment, he realized that he was trembling slightly with his arms rigidly at his sides.

 “... Sehun ...” He could not say anything else, since at that moment said boy turned around and it was he who surrounded the older with his arms this time, startling him and it was at that moment that he realized that the youngest was crying. Without hesitation or another second he tried to comfort him. “Sehun.... What happened?” Minseok felt as the other seemed to tense in his embrace and his crying seemed to have no end.

He waited a little until he calmed down and had him sit in one of the armchairs in the living room. First he had to make sure that Sehun was well, so he went into the apartment looking for a little water, when he found it he returned to the room where he had left the boy, who despite the tears still falling down his face seemed to have calmed down. Although he was impatient and desperate to know what was wrong with him, he didn’t want to force it because he knew how closed he was when he expressed himself. So he decided to wait.

“Hyung ... You may not believe what I'm going to tell you but ... I think Luhan has been trying to communicate with me.”

"What?" Instead of answering, Sehun only showed him the messages he had received.

“In the beginning I tried to ignore them but, I received messages like that every day at specific times. I thought they were just numbers but ... they turned out to be coordinates.”

“Did you discovered something?”

“I think so, but before ... Hyung ... I think we should look for others and rescue Luhan and Kris-hyung. I think the people who questioned us are doing something big and it's not good.”

“What do you mean with that?”

“Today I went to the place indicated by the last coordinates but ... Hyung ... everything was too strange. I don’t know how to say it but ... I think they're trying to replicate our powers.” Minseok didn’t dare to say anything, well most likely ... he couldn’t, his mind went blank and if what Sehun said was true then… they were in serious trouble. Their abilities were not something that humans could easily understand, much less control them. He was sure, it had taken time for each of them to get used to their abilities, to know their limits.

“The reason why I was fleeing before ... In one of the houses a few blocks from here, that's where the coordinates took me. I found two children and I'm sure, really sure that both had powers ... but I think it was too much for them, they were just children, but Hyung… one of them was using telekinesis.”

“Sehun ... Do you think ...?”

“I'm sure Luhan is alive, I can feel it but ... we must rescue him, we have to get them out of there. I think they are using him for some experiments or something worse, we cannot allow it Hyung. We must do something!”

“I get it. I ... look a few days ago I was thinking exactly the same thing. I don’t think it's a good idea to be apart now that we know this. We don’t know what they may be planning but ... if these messages are from Luhan ... I guess he was trying to warn us. And ... It would explain the reason why I'm here.”

“I was about to ask you that Hyung. How did you find me? Where were you?”

“Berlin, I tried to find them, I didn’t care who but I thought we needed to meet, we cannot be alone Sehun, have not you seen the news? The comet is approaching, we do not have much time. I tried to look for them but I couldn’t find any clue, until a few days ago I also received a message ... I saw Jongdae.”

“What?! Where? Is he okay?”

“I saw it on my TV... at the beginning I thought someone had found him and tried to provoke me but, his image was distorted and the only thing that appeared on the screen was a word: Edinburgh. So I didn’t think twice and I hurried to come. I spent a few days walking around the city and ... I found you.”

“... Hyung.”

“Now that I think... maybe Luhan tried to communicate with me too, though in a different way.”

“What are we supposed to do now?”

“Find the others, get together and plan a strategy to rescue Kris and Luhan.”

“Sounds good to me but ... how are we going to do that?” Minseok wanted more than anything to be able to answer with confidence but...

“...I don’t know.”

 

****

 

Suho was not sure if he would be able to fall asleep. After returning to the apartment in which Baekhyun had been staying and had his little reunion with King, the boy told him in detail what had happened. A part of him didn’t know what to believe.

A lot of thoughts were running in his mind, he didn’t know if he felt guilty, if they were manipulating Kris, it's because he, like Luhan, couldn’t escape. Having spent isolated for some time made him review that moment millions of times and each time there were less doubts about it. Although one of the things he regretted was missing the opportunity to see Yixing one last time.

  
When he felt that it had been enough and that it would be impossible for him to sleep, he got up and decided to walk a little. Baekhyun's apartment was small but spacious enough for its only two occupants in it. However, there was something that did not stop worrying him. Baekhyun's complexion didn’t look good at all, he was much thinner than he remembered. Was he not eating well? It was that or simply the younger preferred sweatshirts at least two sizes larger than his own.

One of the things that the younger had done when they arrived had been changing his clothes. Whereas before he wore tight trousers and a leather jacket with perfectly groomed hair, he looked completely different now, looking more like the Baekhyun he remembered. Suho had asked the other to take a good bath with hot water since he hadn’t stop shaking and he could still see a little fear in his eyes. When the boy finally came out of the bathroom he wore baggy pants and a sweatshirt so huge that it seemed to swallow his small body in it, making him look smaller than he was. His black hair was still slightly damp from the shower, which fell delicately on his forehead, blocking his eyes a little. Definitely Baekhyun seemed so small and fragile that the simple image hurt Suho. Especially because when he began to tell what happened, he did not look up much and played with the hem of the sleeves of his sweatshirt, while King was laying by his side.

The boy fell asleep very easily, Suho assumed that it was because he was very tired after having used his power in that way, besides that it seemed that he had not been sleeping very well the previous days, Baekhyun didn’t need to mention it because Suho had noticed the weariness and the bags under his eyes.

He was immersed in his thoughts when screams caught his attention. He hurried to the room in which Baekhyun had been sleeping and found him sitting on the bed with tears running down his cheeks, while his hands seemed to cover his ears.

“Baekhyun! Baekhyun! What's wrong?!”  The boy did not stop crying but as soon as Suho's arms surrounded him his screams diminished.

“... It hurts.” Suho had no idea what was happening but he felt very angry.

“Baek, I need you to tell me what's wrong, did you hurt yourself?”

“It hurts, it hurts a lot. Please ... please Suho make it stop.” said in the midst of sobs while clinging onto the leader’s shirt.

“Baekhyun.” Suho took the boy’s face in his hands and looked for his eyes with his own, which made it difficult because he didn’t stop crying. “Listen to me, you're fine. You're safe. No one's going to hurt you.” When Baekhyun calmed down a bit and his breathing returned to normal, Suho took one of his hands and tried to reassure him just as like in the past some of the members had a nightmare. “I need you to tell me, what is happening, you know I cannot help you if you don’t tell me anything.”

Baekhyun remained silent, unable to contain the sobs and tears that still escaped his eyes. Suho noticed that the boy kept his eyes fixed on his hands, while the other rested on his arm squeezing a bit. Suho looked up as if seeking some approval but did not receive anything in return so he used the hand he had free to raise one of the sleeves of the boy’s sweatshirt, however what he saw would have an impact on anyone so he could not avoid an exclamation of amazement.

Baekhyun's forearm was full of scars from what appeared to have been cuts, some deeper than others, ones that had even needed a few stitches. Suho could feel his breathing stirring as he tried to contain the anger inside, quickly took the other arm and repeated the action, finding the same image if not with more cuts than in the other arm.

“Baekhyun ... I'm going to ask you a question and I need you to answer me with nothing but the truth.” He looked up and found irritated eyes with traces of tears still escaping them, so he stroked the cheek of the boy with his hand, wiping the tears that fell. “These ... scars, did you hurt yourself?”  He could see how the Baekhyun's lips trembled but did not seem to show signs of articulating any words, so the latter just shook his head.

“Who did this Baekhyun?” The boy could not continue to hold the gaze of their leader, the tone of Suho's voice was quiet but contained a great hardness that made Baekhyun shudder, and he knew he was a kind and considerate person but like any good leader, he had to know when to act with rigidity.

 "Were they made when they separated you from the others?" This time the boy just nodded his head while Suho returned to cover the scarred arms with the sleeves of the sweatshirt. “I need you to tell me everything you remember about those moments Baekhyun. I know it's not easy and it's not pleasant but I need to know something ... Yixing ... Do you know what happened to Yixing?”


	12. II

The moment he regained consciousness was as if he could breathe again, however seconds were needed to make his eyes fill with tears and his heart rush. As he could, he stood up, without staggering a bit as his legs kept trembling, took the little diary and started running.

He ran looking for the way back to the cabin, or at least that was what he was trying to do because his vision was hampered by his own tears.

He remembered everything. Before he kept demanding answers because he felt lost and alone. However, now while walking through the forest, he could see how a lot of memories passed before his eyes. The first manifestation of his powers, his first encounter with the members, the difficulties they went through and the last of all, when Baekhyun was snatched from his side.

_***_

_Kris kept repeating constantly that they should always stay alert since the young man was distracted thinking about Baekhyun, but he couldn’t help it, they had been separating them gradually._

_First Suho, who assured them that everything would turn out well, that he would do everything possible to deceive them, in such a way that they would soon be free again. No one doubted the words of their leader but it was hard not to, especially when more members began to be isolated. Suho always came back with them but it was not the same with Jongdae and then with Baekhyun._

_That was the moment when the whole plan presented the first obstacle. Chanyeol was furious, and was about to incinerate the entire faculty._

_Everyone knew that Chanyeol's abilities were great but could be very destructive, especially when he couldn’t control his temper. Fortunately, that was not a constant problem, but he was a slightly sensitive person who let himself be guided too quickly by his emotions. Although with time the rest knew that he could control his abilities, even so there were situations that could leave him a bit unstable and that was not good at all._

_At the moment when Baekhyun had been separated from the others, Chanyeol reacted immediately, trying to protect him, trying to stop the doctors but he was hampered by the guards, he did not even have to think twice before pouncing on one of them, feeling the familiar sensation of his power spreading throughout his body - without remembering Suho's words about avoiding at all costs the use of his abilities, since these could expose them. He was about to attack when he felt arms holding him, however he did not stop struggling to be able to break free, by the force  he could guess who it was but they didn’t release him until the guards had withdrawn._ __  
  
Chanyeol was furious, everyone knew it but they could not let the effort of all those days go in vain. He tried to calm down a bit while Kris and Minseok kept to each side, anticipating any possible movement of the younger. They were the only people - besides Baekhyun - who could be near Chanyeol while he was in that state. Kris because of his abilities with fire and flames could not hurt him, because his powers also emanated from those forces. On the other hand was Minseok and his ability to freeze, which made him counter Chanyeol’s ability, however on this occasion he considered himself lucky.

_Minseok knew Chanyeol was more than angry because the more he tried to freeze his hands from the Chanyeol’s heat the ice in his hands melted too fast and did not give him enough time to cool him, he just hoped that both the doctors and the guards would not have noticed anything strange._

_Chanyeol kept his eyes fixed on the door through which Baekhyun was gone and he was sure that if his two companions were not with him, he would have run after them, if their legs had allowed him, for he was petrified at the same place. Kris's words brought him back to reality._

_“If you don’t want something to happen to him, you should calm down, they can’t know about us. If your powers get out of control you put us all in danger especially Baekhyun and Jongdae.” At the mention of the second, Minseok did nothing more than tighten a bit his hold he had with Chanyeol. It was then that the boy tried to calm down, lowering his guard a little. When Chanyeol seemed to have calmed down it was the pain and anguish that seized his heart. He had no idea what those scientists could do to Baekhyun or how cruel they could be. Not that he considered Baekhyun weak, he more that nobody knew he was very strong. Chanyeol had always believed that the power of the other had a lot of potential, although the older one did not believe it. Despite this, Chanyeol always wanted to be by his side to protect him no matter what ... and now he had failed and feared he could not do it._

_Minseok watched as Kris gave him a small pat on the back and retreated to get closer to the rest, so the older one stayed by his side._

_'We're all concerned Chanyeol, believe me, I more than anyone understand what you feel, but all we can do right now is find a way to get out of here and trust Suho, besides he aways comes back, hopefully Baek will also only be questioned and returned shortly, like ... Jongdae”  Minseok was not sure what he had just said but he believed that if he repeated it many times maybe he could believe it himself or better yet it could be true. He was immersed in his thoughts that he did not notice the look of pain that Chanyeol shared, he reacted the moment he felt a hand on his shoulder, startling him a bit._

_“Are you okay?”_

_“It's nothing, Yixing.”_

_“ ... Your hands ... “ The oldest had wanted to hide it but he knew that such things did not escape from the young man's eyes, even when he seemed very distracted he had always been able to distinguish each detail in any situation. He had not been aware of the damage he had suffered until the other took his hands and began to feel the pain disappear slightly. He felt grateful but knew very well the consequences, so he just lowered his eyes while Yixing healed him completely._

_“You don’t have to do those things Yixing, you need to save energy for when we get out of here.”_

_“I know, but this is nothing… besides, it's the only thing I can do.” A sad smile appeared on the young man's face, while he directed his gaze towards the rest. “I don’t have great skills to fight like others, you know it's not my thing.”_

_“I know, but if Suho finds out ...”_

_“It won’t hurt him if nobody says anything.”_

_“... Yixing, Kris and I are supposed to protect all of you if Suho is not here, please at least let me protect you once.”_

_After thinking about it for a few seconds, Yixing just lowered his eyes. "Fine."_

_Minseok knew that they had to act fast and even if he was one of those who was careful to engineer a plan to escape, he had no idea how they could achieve it and being the oldest of them all he had to boost them or at least build trust and confidence. He wasn’t that confident with words or support and he had relay those jobs to others even if he was the oldest but he was okay with it, in fact he did not mind the fact that Suho and Kris take command in any situation, on the contrary, it made him feel relieved, they had better leadership skills that even Minseok felt calm. It was not easy for him to express himself and he was one of those people who prefer silence, so talking was not his strongest point._

_He was sure that this would be one of the moments when Jongdae would try to calm him down. He did not know why but the simple fact of having him close could make the worries disappear, with a simple glance the other knew what was going through Minseok's mind and knew how to help him. But Jongdae was not there and that was another reason why he took great pains to escape, he was so worried about others and the fact that they had separated Jongdae and Baekhyun from the rest infuriated him very much._

_The moment that Yixing left them alone again Minseok turned to Chanyeol, seeing him as a different person. Normally the tall person was always happy or at least making the attempt but now he knew that sadness and worry was the only thing that covered his heart._

_“Chanyeol this is one of the times when we need you most, I know you're worried but we cannot do this if one of us doesn’t cooperate.”_

_“What do you mean?”_

_“I think I have a plan.”_

_***  
_

 

 

Even now that he could remember, Chanyeol had to thank Minseok for everything, he knew that he had done his best despite all the complications they had but, the last memory he had of Baekhyun, was about him leaning on Minseok who was trying to see how hurt he was. Chanyeol, on the other hand, had to keep the guards busy and trusted the eldest to be able to take care of Baekhyun for a moment, but he could remember it. Baekhyun was very pale and looked like he was having trouble standing up, Kyungsoo's jacket covering him and traces of what appeared to be blood.

Remembering that image Chanyeol could not contain it any longer and stopped running for a moment. His legs failed him and he fell to his knees in the middle of the forest, unaware that while he had been running his emotions had been too unstable that he had not been aware of the trail he had left behind. He looked around and watched as the flames began to spread rapidly through the trees, consuming them in a short time, the heat did not affect him especially because his mind could not concentrate on what was happening just thinking about the rest of the members, those he considered as his family, how he failed to protect them especially Baekhyun.

He did not know how long it had gone by but the flames were no longer at their peak, the remains of trees now almost charred along with the ground full of ash, the young man felt that it was a representation of how he felt inside. The tears had stopped falling, he felt his body numb to remain in the same position for a long time but did not feel enough strength to stand up.

The only thing that made him come out of his trance were sounds he heard a short distance away, surely the fire had caught the attention of the surroundings, so he tried to get up and resume his way back to the cabin. When he could see it in the distance he stopped. There were some black vans surrounding her. That's what made him alert.

Something inside told him that this could not be a good thing, especially when he saw people dressed in suits with dark glasses and others dressed completely in white out of the cabin. He was very aware that he could not let his emotions get out of control again, although even if they were too many people Chanyeol knew he could handle all of them, but he did not want to cause more damage than he had already done. He started backing up in his footsteps without looking away from the group of people trying to be as quiet as possible, but a sound from one of his sides made him stop.

“It's because of these kinds of things that always make me believe you're too stupid.” Chanyeol found the person to whom that voice belonged and never thought that he could feel so happy to hear it again. “Now, if you've already made your position in this place too obvious in a dramatic way, can we go?”

“... Kyungsoo?”

“At least you know who I am, this will be easier. Do not keep looking at me like an idiot, if you want them to find you, you can stay here and do nothing or ... you can move so we can meet with the other.”

 

* * *

 

  
He did not know what had happened but he was sure that the place where he landed was not Spain. Definitely not in the place that had materialized in his mind, on the contrary he was in an unknown place. Which was strange because he did not remember ever being in that place, in front of him there was a big church, beautiful without a doubt but he had never seen it in his life of that he was sure.

I saw people move around as if nothing, thanking that the Europeans did not care much about the environment that surrounded them. There was something that caught his attention, it was night when he arrived at his destination and he remembered that it was very early when he was transported from London. _Was he in a farther place?_

He saw some shops on one side and approached one of them to ask where he was and realized that he could not read any of the posters that these exhibited, he returned his gaze to the huge church that was crowded with people entering and went out constantly and read the sign on the side of it: Basilique Notre-Dame de Fourvière.


	13. III

 

_It did not matter how many laps he gave around the place it was always the same. He didn’t like to admit it but sometimes everyone else’s drama was too much to bear. He thought he had patience ... little but he had it. Everyone had their own problems and for some strange reason everyone believed that Sehun was the right person to vent their pains. He thought it was because he was a quiet person and most of the time, he just liked silence, it didn’t mean that the cared or was interested about other people’s problems._

_He had been living with the "members" for years because he had come to this new home -as Suho called it- at a very early age, that's what everyone said, especially because even if someone else became part of this new family, they were older than Sehun. The last to arrive had been a young man named Luhan. If Sehun had to be honest, he didn’t like the older._

_Luhan who despite having a baby face turned out to be the second oldest in age just below Minseok, maybe that was one of the first things he did not like about the older one. As they got to know each other more he could see how Luhan quickly became friends with everyone, apparently he was very social ... Always with a smile on his face ... a smile that Sehun detested._

_If there was something that the kid hated were the lies, in the past his parents had lied to him too much that now it was a little harder for him to trust people, that is why seeing the smiling major at all times bothered him. He didn’t know if it was because he was too observant but every time Luhan smiled he was not happy, it was like a mask he wore all the time. He didn’t know if the other members also noticed it and only decided to ignore it but it was something that he did not like to see. He felt as if the eldest lived under a fake facade and tried to show it as authentic towards others, that is why Sehun felt he was lying himself in addition to lying to others. Reason why he was not very close with the eldest and yet despite that ... He did not understand why he cared too much._

 

_  
***_

 

_Sehun sometimes preferred to spend most of his time in the outskirts, he liked to relax for a while surrounded by trees while he felt the currents of wind around him. He was currently reclining on the lawn with his eyes closed, while trying to sleep for a while when he felt a shadow obstruct him. He opened his eyes and met one of the people he had been avoiding, Luhan._

_“Hello Sehun!” said with the same smile as always. The younger was not very enthusiastic so he didn’t bother to answer and closed his eyes again, maybe if he ignored it the other would leave. But that didn’t seem to be the case, since Luhan took the place next to Sehun._

_“Is this where you spend most of the time?” he still did not get any response but that did not seem to stop the older. “Everyone left with the instructors ... just in case you had a question about it. I say so that when you enter again do not be surprised when you don’t find anyone."_

_"_ Damn" _is what Sehun thought, it's not like he hated that much but he didn’t like the idea of spending all his time with Luhan, after everything was uncertain the time that others would take to return._

_He still made the slightest attempt to ignore Luhan when he began to speak again, he wans’t tired but for some reason the voice of the older tended to send him in the world of dreams. When Sehun awoke again the sun had gone down and the sky was clear of clouds making the weather cool enough. He thought he was alone until he heard a slight breathing at his side, he sat up realizing that Luhan had not left at any time but on the contrary, he was sleeping next to him._

_Sehun could have left him there for what mattered but ... He wasn’t that cruel.. So he took the older one in his arms, and started to move back towards their home realizing that the other was as light as a feather_ "Was he be eating well? Forget it Sehun is not as if you were interested." _In the same way Luhan seemed to shrink in his arms when a breeze passed over them. It didn’t affect Sehun, after all the wind was like an extension of himself. It was at the moment that Sehun lowered his gaze that he realized that there were tears on the older man's face. He did not know why but seeing the other's face in that vulnerable state made his heart shudder. For the first time Sehun believed he had seen the reality of Luhan._

 

_***_

 

_He did not know exactly when it was but Luhan began to try to get closer to Sehun and he did not oppose any resistance. Most likely, it was because they spent most of their time together, as the others were slow to return and any contact between them was inevitable. He supposed that the reason for this was because they had also managed to coexist peacefully with each other and had noticed the things they both had in common._

_Luhan also realized that Sehun truly loved the silence or at least felt comfortable in it, as well as he could also notice the laziness on the part of the younger since most of the time he didn’t like to do anything outside of the training routines more than sleeping and eating, especially sleeping. Although he always kept a blank expression, inside he was nothing more and nothing less than a baby. Not that he behaved as such but certainly liked to be spoiled by others._

_Luhan noticed that when one of his instructors reprimanded him for not having completed the exercise that had been asked in time and instead of remaining stoic as anyone would have imagined Sehun frowned and passed in a bad mood for the rest of the day, kicking the stones that crossed his path or even closing the doors abruptly, until Luhan offered him one of the treats that Kyungsoo prepared from time to time._

_The elder knew that all the members loved his food but occasionally he also prepared small snacks and treats so that others could enjoy them at any time, but the truth was that most of the time Jongin was upset when the other members ate them, because he assured that the other cooked them exclusively for him, earning a light punch from Kyungsoo. However  since both were alone, he assumed that they would not notice. Sehun's reaction was immediate, replacing his frown with a huge smile and even a_ "Thank you Hyung!" _Towards Luhan. Which, in fact, the eldest found truly adorable and with a strange anxiety to see that smile again._

_Sehun came to consider that perhaps Luhan was not a bad person as he believed, having no one else to talk to and seeing that the older one seemed not to like the loneliness had made Sehun have the opportunity to know him a little more, although there was something he had noticed quickly. From the second day the others had left, the older had stopped pretending to be happy all the time, smiling only when there was something that made him laugh. For these and other things Sehun considered that Luhan was giving him the opportunity to know him as for who he truly was even a little, but he considered that a specific moment had been the one that had achieved that there was a unique bond between them._

* * *

 

Minseok knew that the younger was still thinking about Luhan, he could not blame him, they had his own thoughts on someone in particular. He knew that even if Sehun had stopped crying he was still a bit affected and after all he was the youngest, even if he pretended that nothing matters or that he was old enough there were things that could affect him greatly and he considered that even if nobody said anything they all felt that they had to protect him even a little more. So he guided Sehun so that the child would settle on the sofa and lay his head on the older man's lap, while he began to play with his hair in order to calm him down and maybe make him rest for a while.

It seemed to work because the child closed his eyes taking a break, this time he was not alone and could afford to relax and rest for a few moments. He had not realized how much he missed moments like those, where he could relax and be pampered. Due to the silence Minseok believed that Sehun had fallen asleep until he heard how the he began to speak now with a drowsy tone.

“Now I understand.”

“What?”

“Why Baekhyun-hyung used to call you mom.”

“Hey! He never called me that.”

“Maybe not in your presence, but you cannot deny that he was your favorite.”

“Well if you bothered to spend time with others that could be different. Who knows, you could have been the spoiled one.”

“Ja! We both know that this is not true ..., you did not deny the favorite thing.” It was not necessary that he opened his eyes to be able to imagine the smile that was now on the lips of the older one. He could feel himself beginning to fall asleep but there was something that was still in his mind and Minseok had to pay close attention when he started talking again since his tone was too soft.

“Hyung ... Do you think we can still save him?”

“Well ... I hope so, but the first thing we have to do is find Jongin.”

“What if ... What if we’re already late?”

“Don't think about that Sehunnie ... If Luhan listened to you he would be upset by your lack of optimism ... do you have a better idea?”

“…Not really, no.”

***

 

Jongin felt very tired. He had no idea what he was doing wrong but he had been trying for days to transport himself again and each of his attempts was in vain. When he first appeared in Lyon - he had learned that it was where he had appeared - he was really confused, he knew that he could not have appeared in a place he had no idea what it was like, that is, he had never been there and they had even sometimes if he tried too hard he could appear in places he didn’t know. Or even if he focused on a specific photo or something like that, but this case was different. He had never been to France and it was not even the place he had in mind when he left London

There was another thing that seemed curious, there was no great distance between England and France. He knew there was a time difference but it was not too big, two hours at the most. Which seemed strange, it is not as if it will take to reach its destination, that is, normally it was a matter of seconds. But he was sure that when he left London it was very early, noon at the latest, but he arrived in Lyon 8 hours later. He was not sure if the problem was in his ability or was something else.  
He tried to blend into the crowd for a few moments but tried to find a more or less deserted street if not some kind of hidden alley a bit hidden in one of the local food and tried to reimagine the city of Barcelona, there was a specific place in his mind, just waiting for it to remain deserted. He felt the power through his veins but when he opened his eyes again was a few steps away from the place where he had been seconds ago.

Since that time he had been trying you teleport to another location if possible, but the result was the same. All he could was to appear in the same city in France, what Jongin not know was that each of the times that It appeared in a different area were the same surroundings of the church. The only reason he stopped was because he was too tired that he was about to faint. Knowing that he had been trying harder he decided to stop trying, anyway it's not like he could control it, it was like a kind of blockade ... and it started to scare him, that had never happened before.

He had spent days walking around the city, if he could not leave at least he should look why he could not leave that place. Lyon turned out to be a beautiful city, He did not understand very well why but it seemed that in the city many parties were celebrated at all times, especially at night. That's why he had spent three consecutive nights touring the city, it was different than he had expected but for some reason in some parts of the city it was as if they took more life once the sun was hidden, people for all the crowded streets, restaurants and shops, not to mention the amount of lights that illuminated the place.

 It was when he was going through some of the clothing stores where he saw through the showcase as a tall young man with his blond hair and covered by a definitely new hat coming out of the store, well he was trying to leave because he was carrying a lot of bags in both hands. Jongin did not think much about it but the physical complexions of that person became too familiar. _Tao? ... No, it cannot be the ... right?_

He was about to let it go when he heard how one of the shop assistants called his name to give him a few bags that he had left forgotten, that was what he needed to confirm his suspicions "... There are things that will never change"

  
  ***

 

“Here you have a chocolate cake and a box of almond cookies. Thank you very much for your purchase, come back soon!”

“I must say Lay, that you are more animated than usual.”

“Seriously? Well, I think it's because we had a good day, lately we have more clients. I think people are spreading the word about our desserts.”

 “Suuuuure, whatever you say.”

 “What do you mean Xiao Zhu?” Said young man left his post cleaning the tables and went to the counter where Lay was.

“Did you realize that most of our new clients are girls?”

“Ehhhm no, not really.”

“And you have not noticed how they are usually the same people who seem to come and go in our bakery?”

“... No?” By the tone that Xiao used the younger knew that he should understand something but nothing crossed his mind.

“Ahhh Lay, sometimes I do not know if you're too innocent or just naive. The girls come to our bakery for two reasons: one, we have a very accessible schedule for the clients and two: Nobody resists my charms. Unfortunately I am too handsome for this world, although I must admit that some of my girls are beginning to take Some appreciation towards you. I think it's because you're too adorable.” Xiao Zhu squeezed the boy's cheeks before returning to one of the tables to continue his work.  
   
“I thought it was because our desserts were good.”  Lay said while rubbing one of the cheeks. He liked all his coworkers but he got along quite well with Xiao Zhu, most likely because he shared some musical interests with Lay, he also helped him a lot when he started working at the bakery, and there was not a very large age difference between them. They, so there were even times when they did not have many customers they would spend talking and joking with each other. Lay looked at his watch and saw that his shift was about to end so he started to collect his things and said goodbye to Xiao Zhu before getting on his bike and heading to the restaurant.  
   
About fifteen minutes later in which Xiao Zhu watched the clock carefully thinking that perhaps this way the time would advance faster. All he wanted was for his shift to end. He had an appointment in less than an hour with a girl he had met a few days ago. The sound of the door bells made him look away from the clock to find a group of five men dressed in dark glasses.

“Welcome, can I help you with anything?” None of the men answered, they just walked around inside the bakery watching each corner with great care before leaving without saying a word. Xiao Zhu was bothered by these kinds of people, _who do they think they are? With those expensive costumes and shiny shoes ... Besides, who wears sunglasses at six o'clock in the afternoon?_ He put his thoughts aside when he saw his relay partner enter, meaning that he could finally go home to prepare for his date.


	14. IV

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter conteains mentions of torture, violence and minor deaths.

“Kyungsoooooo ... are you sure we're not lost?” Chanyeol was currently lying on one side of the car, he was not sure how the other could get access to so much money but every time he asked, the other only replied that he should not worry about that kind of thing.

 

“I'm sure, just stop complaining for a moment I can’t concentrate.” The younger had settled in the back seat of the vehicle with his laptop on his legs, headphones in his ears and the phone in his hands. He had to keep up with the things that were happening, because any event could be a clue or a clue to others.

 

When they left Arizona Chanyeol was devastated, if the word was enough to describe it. Kyungsoo could see it, but maybe it was the consolation of now having each other that made the older one calm down a bit, that is, Chanyeol's reaction is understandable, since he knew that the last memories of the older one had been painful, all of them were. That is why Kyungsoo felt sympathy for him, since he himself had managed to see Baekhyun one last time, but he chose not to tell the other about the exact conditions in which the other had met, fearing for Chanyeol's reaction.

 

From the moment they met, Chanyeol had spent the time observing his symbol, which was now in its original form, a necklace with the small earring of a phoenix. There had been several moments in which Kyungsoo found him watching the necklace in his hands with a lost look, as if he longed for something. That is why he chose not to interrupt his thoughts, although it felt strange to be in the presence of the older and that both were involved in a great silence - that had never been possible before - but he preferred to wait until he was ready to speak.

 

The road had been quiet and silent as well as long and a little tedious, but Kyungsoo knew that they could not stay in one place for long, they had to keep moving and find each other.

 

He had considered that both had had the bad luck to be of the members who were further away from the rest-of course, as long as they were in the ten cities he had previously discovered. He hoped that at least the rest could relate events and cities as he did, or at least have noticed the news about the comet. All he expected was that the foolish organization did not tie the ends so fast. Although he did not know exactly what sources of information they used or if their data were correct but that was not the case, he had checked the database through his computer and kept the same information.

 

They had managed to get to Europe, Liverpool to be more exact. After the plane trip - that Chanyeol still wondered how they had managed to board - the younger had quickly rented a car by the time they reached their destination. They had been driving for a few hours now but decided to stop at his request.

 

He was not sure why but had the impression that some of the members had started to move. So he was waiting to hear it again, he hadn’t hallucinated the last time and the voice he had heard before was from Luhan. He tried to do everything possible to choose his destination, but when they arrived in England and spent a few days there he did not know exactly how to look for a person in a large country, without mentioning that he had to choose between the rest of the countries, so he hoped that by having Chanyeol by his side this was not so complicated.

 

Maybe it was a stroke of luck but he heard it. He began to listen to that insistent sound like a telegraph, followed by the sound of static, so he paid special attention to it and heard it: " _Edinburgh."_ .. He did not need anything else, he trusted that hunch. He started packing his things and approached the driver's position.

 

“Chanyeol! It's time to go”.

 

“What? How do you know?”

 

“I have a good feeling.”

 

Seeing the other hurried movements, Chanyeol put his collar around his neck feeling that familiarity and comfort that he had forgotten long ago and positioned himself again in the passenger seat.

 

“It's not that I do not trust you, but ... no, I don’t trust you, where are we going?”

 

“Edinburgh.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

 

Minseok and Sehun established a routine, the older insisted on listening to everything the other had told him. He wanted to understand what was happening, so they had decided to revisit the places that the coordinates had previously guided Sehun, but he’d told him that he did not consider it necessary. He thought that even some of the locations had been wrong initially. He was sure he had been able to decipher them exactly but just some of the places did not seem to have anything out of the ordinary. Although Minseok thought differently, so they had agreed to visit at least the last places the coordinates had indicated. That way they could differentiate things that the younger may had taken for granted before.

 

They had spent two whole days in which they had walked from one place to another but until now -as Sehun had predicted, there was nothing strange. The only thing that they had managed to observe is that, in fact, some of the locations turned out to be two parks full of families and people walking everywhere, places that seemed the center of tourists because they were all the time crowded. Their last visit was the suburbs Sehun had investigated. They weren’t sure if it was because of the same situation in how people live in such communities but ... it seemed as if nothing strange had happened in the last days.

 

They tried to ask around, since certainly the news should have spread but the police had not found anything strange. More people denied that the house had been inhabited for a while ... which only made them suspect that something very strange was happening. It was possible that if Sehun was right and the organization that had imprisoned them in the past was now trying to duplicate their powers, they themselves were keeping in the shadows.

 

Minseok felt particularly uneasy about the situation, the only thing he thought was that it was not a good idea to stay in Edinburgh for any longer… it was very risky. But at the same time there was the possibility that they were close to finding something that would help them, besides ... It's not like they know where to go. The only clue he had previously had led him to find Sehun but ... that was all.

That same anxiety and worry caused the older to get up early every day, get ready, clean the apartment and start preparing breakfast. Every day when he was finishing preparing everything, Sehun would get up with his messy hair struggling to keep his eyes open as he reached the table and reclined on it.

 

“For God sake’s Hyung, how can you get up so early?”

 

“Good morning Sehunnie.” Minseok began to set the table, leaving one plate full of food in front of the other and each one with a respective cup of coffee.  “I don’t know, it just happens.”

 

“Do you know what that is? It is a disease. Some kind of sickness.”

 

“It can’t be a disease to get up early, it’s simply to make the most of the day.”

 

“Waking up early is one thing, but getting up at three in the morning to do housekeeping around the apartment ... that's a disease, Hyung. You should get help.”

 

“. . . Just eat your breakfast.” Sehun placed his head on the table, now resting his jaw on it seeing the plate in front of him leaving his gaze directly. Minseok tried to ignore him at first paying attention to his own plate while eating his food until he couldn’t help it anymore, let out a sigh and got up from the table while looking for something in the refrigerator. He returned moments later leaving milk and sugar in front of the other. “Happy?” Sehun sat up in his chair and took his fork to begin devouring his breakfast, even with his mouth full of food he directed his gaze to the older one.

 

“You know I can’t drink black coffee, Hyung. I don’t even know why you try it.”

 

“Sehun-ah! Don’t talk with your mouth full! It is disgusting.”

 

It was probably the remorse of having been awakened at three in the morning by the sound of the vacuum cleaner that did not let him fall asleep again after a good thirty minutes, so the younger could not contain it and opened his mouth full of food again just to annoy the older one, seeing the other's expression of disgust, he just laughed.

 

 

 

After that incident in the morning they decided to check one of the places that Sehun had visited previously, at that time he didn’t dare to get too close because he was alone and had no idea what could happen and he was not stupid. It could be that he fell into some kind of trap, after all the place he spoke of was what had once been a factory and had been uninhabited for a few months.

 

Minseok was almost at the door waiting for the other to finished fixing when he saw that he left the room and stayed in the center of the room staring at his cell phone.

 

“Does something happen Sehun?”

 

“I want to check something.”

 

The older one thought he had an idea of what the other thought but approached him with some expectation. He saw the clock that was on the wall watching as the hands of the clock advanced, his doubts turned out to be correct when the clock struck 3:25 sharp and he heard the sound coming from Sehun's cell phone, they both knew that they had a new place to what to go

 

Minseok let the other guide him, because it was him who knew the city a little more and knew how to read the coordinates so he just followed him. He was not sure why but he had a bad feeling. He knew they could not let the guard down specially when the coordinates led to a place that even Sehun did not have prior knowledge. He began to wonder what was happening when they finally reached their destination.

 

“Wait Sehun, that's ... is it an orphanage?”

 

“I think so.” He checked his cell phone again checking that they were in the right place. They were currently hiding behind one of the houses that was located in front of the orphanage, when Minseok proposed the idea of approaching to see if there was something strange the younger saw as a car appeared on the other side of the street telling the oldest to wait. It was a black truck with polarized windows so they could not see who was inside until they left. A man dressed in a black suit with dark glasses left the driver's seat to open the back door where a couple came out, they were escorted to the door of the premises and let them in, returning to the side of the car to wait. They waited in silence only to see what was happening on the other side of the street, neither of them daring to speak but both sharing the same kind of thinking.

 

A few minutes passed that Minseok felt eternal when he saw the couple leaving the orphanage with three children.  The woman carrying a baby in her arms and the man they assumed was her husband was holding two other children. He assumed they had nine or ten years old and by their identical faces he could guess that they were a pair of twins. They watched as the pair exchanged a few last words with those who believed were in charge of the orphanage with smiles on their faces, the man who was still on the side of the car opened the back door until the new family were inside closing it quietly before resuming his driver's seat and leave.

 

Sehun was about to speak when he received a new message on his cell phone, it was other coordinates ... it seemed strange, he had never received messages at a different time but he decided not to question it. This time it indicated a place near where they were, a couple of blocks to be more exact. Without thinking it more than once he ran away followed by Minseok.

 

They arrived at what appeared to be an underground parking lot to witness how the couple was in what seemed like an argument with other people. Minseok had to stop Sehun because he didn’t know what he was thinking. He took him by the arm in a strong grip and hid behind cars close enough to hear but taking great care to hide.

 

“... We had an agreement.”

 

“I know very well what we had established but ... I would like to keep the baby.”

 

“Sorry, Miss, but the issue is no longer part of the discussion. We had an agreement, you were able to carry out the whole procedure of the adoption, we would be handed over to the children and in exchange for it we would pay you the established amount.”

 

“But ... you already have two of them, I do not see how a baby would be useful ... besides.” Minseok thought he saw tears running down the woman's eyes as she held the baby in one of her arms, while with the other he fixed the blanket that covered it. “He's so small and helpless.”

 

The man they assumed was the husband approach her “Mika, just give them the baby.”

 

“...” Seeing as the woman hesitated, two men dressed in black suits and sunglasses left another vehicle in the direction of the truck, opened the doors and took the twins out of it. The two young men saw how the children struggled to get out of the grip without success and how they were forced to enter another vehicle and even how in spite of their screams nobody did anything else but observe. The man in front of the couple kept his gaze fixed and calm on the couple as if nothing were happening around him. After a while one of the men who had forced the children positioned himself in front of the family as if waiting for orders.

 

“I suggest that you please give me the baby, and you will not hear from us again. As you can see after this small meeting in your bank accounts we will have deposited the agreed money.” The husband took the baby from the arms of his partner and gave it to the man dressed in white, who only examined the baby's face for a few seconds and handed it to the guard who was at his side who continued to enter the car and as soon as he closed the door the vehicle started in the direction of the exit.

 

“Thank you very much for everything, it was a pleasure doing business with you. Do not worry, believe me, what you have just done is for a good cause. Now please go back to your homes and go on with your lives as if this had not happened.”

 

The husband put an arm around the shoulders of his partner who was crying and guided her to a car which Minseok assumed was theirs and just like that ... they left. He didn’t know what to think now, it was more than sure that Sehun suspicions were correct. It was obvious that these people were those who captured them and what they had just witnessed… these children probably would be next to…Before he could say anything else, the driver's door of the car that was left opened and a man dressed like the others, wearing a black suit and dark glasses, approached the one dressed in white.

 

“Sir, I just received orders to move to the Central unit. Their suspicions were true and they have seen the subjects in the cities of London, Lyon and Yunnan.”

 

“I knew they could not stay hidden for so long. We had a total of twenty possible locations, at least we can say that three of them were correct. It’s just matter of time to verify the rest.”

 

It did not take a genius to understand what they were talking about, making Minseok shudder. Their doubts were more than correct and, worst of all, they seemed to have the upper hand. The older one thought that the best thing would be to leave that place before anything happened but it was at that moment that he felt like the air around him began to change. They were in the subway and they were not so close to the entrance, let alone the exit of the place but he was sure that a big blizzard had just passed, he wanted to stop Sehun before something else happened but the older one was too slow.

 

Sehun had emerged from his hiding place and generated a blizzard with his hands so large that he had made the white suit levitate for a few seconds in the air before being thrown against the windshield of the car. The bodyguard who was at his side acted quickly removing a weapon that had kept hidden pointing towards Sehun, but just as he was about to shoot the weapon he held in his hands seemed to get out of his grip and fly to the another side of the parking lot.

 

Minseok hurried and quickly froze the legs of the guard, leaving him pinned to the ground and punched him unconscious propitiated while approaching Sehun what he knew well as one of the scientists.

 

“Sehun-ah! What do you think you're doing?!”  The older ran quickly to Sehun’s side taking him by the shoulders with the eagerness tobreak his concentration but stopped short when he saw the look on his eyes, one full of anger and hatred. Minseok turned around when he heard a faint laugh behind him.

 

“I knew I was right ... there was someone else in this city.” The man was beginning to slowly incorporate from the cracked windshield of the car. Minseok could see how red patches began to appear on his neat white outfit in addition to the small thread of blood falling down his head.

 

“It looks like we catch a big fish, not just one but two. But what do we have here, ice and ... what do you do? Wind? Do you manipulate things with your mind too?”  Neither of them dared to move. Sehun because he was sure that if he did he would kill the guy in front of him and Minseok because he was trying to think of a way to get out of there as quickly as possible.

 

The older man came closer to try to whisper.  “We must get out of here. This will only cause problems, anyone could appear at any time.”  Sehun ignored the other's words and just watched his enemy.

 

“I need answers.”

 

“Ha , is that your tactic? Attack first and then questioning?”

 

“It's better than torture after cheating.”

 

“... You're a daring brat, right?” said while cleaning the traces of blood from his lip.

 

“I don’t think you're in a position to insult me.” Just listening to Sehun's tone of voice was enough for Minseok to know with certainty that whoever was crossing the line was the man dressed in white.

 

“Sehun, we must leave, now.”

 

“No Hyung! I need answers about Luhan.”

 

“¿Luhan? Ahhhh you mean the little one with mental abilities, right?”

 

“Do not say his name!”

 

“Mmmmm let's see ... If I remember correctly you are Sehun and ... Minseok, right? It's a pleasure, you can call me Dr. Yang” the man laughed as soon as he saw their expressions. “Of course I know your names. You have no idea how talkative your teammates can be. If you know how to ask, of course.  I'm sure Luhan mentioned the name _Sehun_ many times.”

 

“... Damn bastards.”

 

“Although I must admit, Luhan was very difficult to break. It took a long time for him to start cooperating with us.”

 

“What have you done with Luhan? ... they using the children, right?”

 

“Well, well well. You are not as stupid as you look.”

 

“Answer me!” Yang definitely enjoyed the way Sehun's face tried to stay stoic but it was almost impossible to contain his emotions. When he least expected it his body began to separate from the surface of the car and seemed to be enclosed in a kind of air bubble, he was not going to deny it he felt somewhat frightened but at the same time he was excited by what was happening. He was facing two subjects from the prophecies, and he had the joy of witnessing his powers develop. This had to be one of the best days of his life.

 

“Sehun! What the hell are you doing? Let it go, it's not worth it.”

 

“That is not worth it? What would you do if you knew that this guy was one of the people who tortured Jongdae-hyung?” At this Minseok looked away, he had thought about it. He also wanted to end the life of everyone who had dared to hurt his family but his rational side told him that this was not the time.

 

“Jongdae? You mean the little one who cried every night like a puppy? Hahahahaha he was too adorable. Oh no, wait, that was Baekhyun, the pretty one. Mmm no. I 'm sorry Jongdae was never part of my agenda.” The older one could feel how his hands began to tremble because of the anger of that comment caused him.

 

“Answer, _Doctor Yang._ What have they done with Luhan?” Sehun knew that they probably had little time, they reveal their identities and presence in the place so he wanted answers as quickly as possible.

 

“Luhan was kind enough to give us access to his DNA so we could work with him.”

 

“You mean….?”

 

“Although as I mentioned, it was not easy. Also, I don’t know what they feed the children of this days. They are so weak and fragile that they cannot stand a simple injection.”

 

“Why do they do this?”

 

“It's for the good of humanity. We try to avoid horrible catastrophes. You should stop resisting and fleeing, we only look after the welfare of society, we can give you answers and work together.”

 

“Work together? The only thing they did was torture us!”

 

“Torture you? Never, it's for the sake of science. Please, if Yixing and Baekhuyn could resist it once I'm sure they can do it again ... the superiors are getting a little tired of Luhan.”

 

That was enough. Sehun couldn’t control it anymore and allowed himself to act under his impulses. Minseok could see how Doctor Yang's smile disappeared from his face and he began to have difficulty breathing.

 

“Does that feel _Doctor Yang_? Do you feel like the air begins to disappear? It is the same price that you must pay for your precious _Science._ ” He kept his eyes on the doctor suspended inside the bubble, extracting all the oxygen from it, seeing with some satisfaction when his face contorted with pain and despair.

 

“Sehun! Sehun enough!”  Minseok managed to break the minor's concentration but ... it was too late. Doctor Yang's body fell to the floor, the older approached slowly. He tried to feel his pulse on the doctor's neck but couldn’t feel anything.

 

“Sehun-ah ... What did you do?” He felt some relief when he saw how the child's expression seemed to relax and realize what he had done, however he did not have time to do anything else because at the entrance to the parking lot a car appeared at full speed stopping in front of them. His heart began to beat hastily until the back door opened and the driver's window revealed a desperate Kyungsoo.

 

“Get in the car!” The oldest had many questions but heard sounds from the side of the entrance and was there when he saw that three black vans entered the parking lot, very similar to those that had seen before in which the guards had taken the children. They were one behind of the other moving towards them.

 

“Now!” Minseok did not think twice and took Sehun arm to hurry to get into the car, when he closed the door Kyungsoo stepped on the accelerator to everything it gave, however the cars were approaching them quickly.

 

“Chanyeol!” The moment Kyungsoo shouted his name, the young man lowered the window and extended his arm waited until they left the parking lot to let the flames spread on the ground blocking the exit of the premises hoping that it would give them enough time to escape.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it makes me sooo happy to know that someone his reading my mess. I hope you can enjoy the rest of the chapters and if you're interested in other stories from me you can check them. 
> 
> Also I want to say that this au means a lot to me and I've been carrying it with me for years now so I had a lot of ideas that you may like. I'm going to explain them latter on. Hope you enjoy.


	15. V

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A small announcement before the chapter, when I started with this story, I thought of many moments among the members not only of the ships but also with the rest. Some of them are within the chapters as memories but I didn't want the essence of the current plot to be completely lost so I decided to publish them separately, they are within this pathcode series as well as in the future it will also have a side-story of characters that will be revealed later.
> 
> The chapters that are within the other series are not obligatory in terms of the order of the story but they do have mentions or about any of the moments that are played. They will not carry a specific order in publication.
> 
> Some of them came up as gifts for my betas but I am also willing to accept recommendations and "requests" in the comments or messages regarding interactions between any of the members.
> 
> English is not my first language, you can also find me on twitter as @pbj2764

* * *

 

 

Afternoons in the library were not very crowded, some students from the nearest university used to visit it often but they were always in small groups so Chen had no reason to complain. His work at the counter gave him a lot of free time so instead of complaining he even had the time to order the books on the shelves, it was what he liked best about his job. He also had access to a large number of books and took advantage of every free moment immersing himself in a new story.

 

Although he had to be honest, he had been involved in the same book for several days, one that had caught his attention. One day while collecting the books that had been returned to the bookstore he noticed how one of them stood out, the borders looked old and worn and when he opened it his pages were yellowish but still with his letters very visible and easy to read, however what seemed most strange is that the book did not show any name on its cover and much less on the back of this.

 

The young man thought that surely some of the people who returned books that morning must have been confused, at first he thought of leaving it right where he found it, on one of the tables in the reading area so that if someone had forgotten it I could return for him at any time. So he decided to organize the rest of the books, since these had not been many his task ended up being simpler and taking less time than usual.

 

Curiosity being one of his greatest sins, caused him to meet a few hours later at the counter, in what he was waiting for the possible visitors with the book in front of him. He didn’t know why but it was strangely familiar.

 

It told the story of a very similar world in which they lived, however it was ruled by superior celestial forces that could grant eternal life and special abilities, which is why over time, the inhabitants turned greedy and anxious to get. That is why the different forces combined to maintain and balance the world, taking the form of a tree called the "tree of life". However no one knew the exact form and location of this or what differentiated it from the rest.

 

According to the legends and stories of the ancestors, they claimed that the same tree of life feared for the future of humanity so every so often it gave some of its gifts to specific people so that if some kind of catastrophe happened they could be the ones with the power of protect humanity.

 

There was one of those entities that did not agree with the others because he believed that his skills could not be shared with anyone else and he assured that nobody could be worthy of them, so he separated himself from the rest and from the same tree, creating a rupture and imbalance as well as an opening in a parallel world.

 

Although the latter was maintained as a hypothetical theory since there was no evidence of the existence of different world, when on the other hand, they did found evidence and documents of people with special abilities and how they would be the ones that brought again a balance to the world.

 

Chen knew it was simply a story in a book but for some reason his heart was beating so fast while reading and was making him feel nervous. There were a lot of thoughts running through his mind but _“It was just the story of a book ... right?_ He returned to focus on his surroundings when he heard sounds from the other side of the library. He looked at the clock that was on the wall next to it, realizing that it was 10:30 at night, it had been half an hour since it closed, so there shouldn’t be anyone else in the place. _"Had he spent so much time immersed in the book?_ He was sure that if his boss found out about it he would probably reprimand him so he decided to hurry.

 

The young man took the book in his arms and ventured into the corridors, walking slowly and cautiously because he felt that something was not right and felt he must be alert. He followed the sound he had heard before only to find a small cat on one of the tables he assumed had entered through one of the windows. It was a baby kitten, he was sure of since he was small with his fur patched in black, brown and white. He was so small that he did not have the heart to let him go by himself, opting to take him home with him, after all it would not hurt him a little company.  He was thinking that he would have to buy some food for the little one. He set out to take him in his arms, carrying the book with him at the same time, took a last look around the library turning off the lights of the store as he headed for the exit without realizing that ... he hadn’t been the only person in the library.

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

_Even in spite of the memories of his childhood, before he could find the Ancient sages who would give him the answers he needed about who he was and that would make him see that his abilities were not something bad as his parents had made him believe from the beginning. They made him feel calmer and that a weight had been lifted from his chest._

_Sometimes it was hard for him to believe that he had spent most of his life isolated from a "normal" life._ _Although it was not entirely his decision, he had been the first to manifest himself and be found by the Sages, so they all focused their attention on him._

_In the beginning, it was difficult to survive every day with the exhaustive training routine, because he was aware that in the future he should be able to control his abilities without any problem and that would be what would allow him to help others._ _Maybe he felt his loneliness prolonged by the fact that he had arrived when he was only 8 years old, and he could not find a way to be distracted in such a huge place by himself, but despite his young age people used to tell him that he had a very mature mind so that most of the time that was not training was spent surrounded by books._

_The pressure and anxiety that developed later was because his superiors had informed him that he would be the leader of the group._ _Initially it might not sound like a big deal for it was he alone in_ _the_ _large mansion, but with the passage of months and even years after the rest of his teammates began to be recruited, or in some of his cases such as from himself they had arrived of their own free will._ _This only made him feel that everything that the legends narrated were true, he could no longer hold the hope that maybe they would not be the expected generation that books and sages expected._

_He remembered clearly how each of them had become his family._ _As_ _Kris_ _had gone from being awkwardly uncomfortable to developing a more self-confident personality that would also help him take care of others._ _Tao who had arrived with_ _Kris_ _seemed to have formed a very strong friendship with him, even in spite of the age difference._

_Sehun_ _was the one who made_ _Junmyeon_ _overprotective with the rest._ _It is likely that it was because the child was practically a baby when he arrived, well maybe not exactly a baby in age but_ _the leader_ _considered it in such a way, and that he should protect it as well as the rest._

_Jongdae_ _was difficult,_ _Junmyeon_ _thought it was because the child had arrived just at the stage of rebellion and his skills did not make things simple, in reality it was the opposite ... Even if the child used to spend most of it time isolated from others and bad mood_ _Junmyeon_ _knew that all he needed was an honest talk in which he could vent his heart._ _Despite many failed attempts, he finally succeeded,_ _Jongdae was_ _able to open a little with him, however it was not a big change since he continued to put up resistance with the rest._

_This changed with Minseok’s arrival. The leader attributed it to the fact that the personality of the elder was something that brought calm to others, even if he did not talk much._ _Even so, he had been the only one who had been able to get too close to_ _Jongdae_ _to trust him and begin to change his attitude with the rest, to an extent that little by little the personality of the younger changed and became more playful, although in the beginning he tried to contain it was only a matter of time before he could express himself freely and without any kind of filter._

_Baekhyun had been a special case, since_ _Junmyeon_ _put his eyes on him again he had the same feeling as when he met_ _Sehun, because Baekhyun was a helpless little boy who used to hide from others most of the time, but it was_ _Jongdae_ _and_ _Minseok_ _who used to take care of him when things became difficult, the reason for this ... the leader still did not understand but those three had a very strong relationship._ _Another who helped_ _Bakhyun a_ _lot_ _was Chanyeol._

_Although they had both been helpful to each other, even if they didn’t notice it._ _Chanyeol was very reserved but the leader knew the real reason behind it, it was fear._ _Nobody judged him for it, all at some time, some more than others fearing their own abilities, it was something new, inexplicable and difficult to master._

_Kyungsoo_ _and_ _Jongin_ _had arrived together and with the passage of time_ _Junmyeon_ _realized that it was just right._ _Those two were spending all their time together._ _When they arrived for the first time, it was not something new that they both knew each other for a long time because they seemed to get along very well, however it was something that, however strange they sound_ , _helped to make them both fit_ _quickly and even if they used to hang out with others or if they shared things in common with the rest, they always ended up together._ _It was as if_ _Kyungsoo_ _himself_ _was some sort of magnet, since the youngest was always following the other with his eyes and always aware of the other even in the simplest things._ _And although_ _Kyungsoo_ _did not show it very often, he behaved in the same way with_ _Jongin_.

_As for_ _Luhan_ _..._ _Junmyeon_ _always felt that there was something that hid from the rest, he was not sure what it was but even though everyone could work as a team and showed good synchronization helping each other no matter who was there was a small barrier that_ _Luhan_ _built with the rest, good with everyone except_ _Sehun_. _He wasn’t quite sure how_ _it had all happened but he remembered how the the younger used to be bother by the mere presence of_ _Luhan, however something changed between them, and that was what kept_ _Junmyeon_ _at peace, thinking that at least if_ _Luhan_ _shared his thoughts and insecurities with at least one of the. The eldest would not have to carry all his sorrows by himself and that at some point he would feel prepared to share it with others and he was sure that they would undoubtedly hear him ._

_Each and every one of them made up Junmyeon’s_ _family, one that he had sworn to protect and care for with all his being, whom he would not abandon for anything in the world as his parents had done with him._ _However, that work was complicated, he had to be strong all the time, sure of himself to be able to transmit that kind of feelings towards the rest. Even so, there was only one person with whom he could at least for a few moments lower his guard, leave those insecurities that would come out from time to time and that he would always be there to be able to return the strength and confidence that he sometimes lost._

_His thoughts were interrupted when he felt a pair of arms surrounding him from behind._ _He didn’t have to turn to know who that person was, the mere fact of being in his arms was enough to make a smile spread on his face._ _The moment he felt like that person supported his jaw on his shoulder was enough for his body to also relax, resting his body against the other._

“ _Bakhyun_ _says that if you frown that much, wrinkles will come out sooner._ ” _Hearing that sweet voice so close to his ear made him feel comfortable and allow himself to laugh a little._ “ _I'm sure you don’t want to give them another reason to keep calling you grandfather.”_

“ _I_ _can’t_ _help it_ _Yixing_ _, you know that sometimes I can’t control the expressions on my face._ ” _He_ _rested his hands on the other trying to prolong that hug for longer while feeling as_ _Yixing_ _nodded still supported on his shoulder._

“ _Mmmm_ _is true, you cannot hide your amazement, nor your disgust ... let alone your concern._ _Did something happen?”_

“ _Nothing_ _you should worry about._ ”   _By saying these words he could feel how the other's arms reinforced his embrace and he knew that it would only lead to more questions._

“ _... Are you aware that those words only make me more worried?_ ”

_“I was just thinking …_ _only the thought of us ... of everyone, as a team.”_

“ _If you talk about all of us, I think you mean more to the family term, you know that_ _Sehun_ _hates that you address the rest only as a team, as someone you can easily replace.”_

…” _You_ _know what I mean.”_

_“That’s because I pay a lot of attention when it comes to you and ... I can feel something”_ _Yixing let his right hand find its way down Junmyeon's chest to position itself exactly in the place of his heart. “Something is not right here.”_

“ _You_ _have nothing to worry about, I just remembered how everyone had arrived here.”_

_Yixing_ _knew that behind that facade of leader was someone who only wanted to rest from time to time, without having to worry about a future full of fights, conflicts and destruction as the legends spoke but also knew how to wait._ _Wait for the right moment so that_ _Junmyeon_ _could share his thoughts with him, so he used to give him the necessary space most of the time._ _Reason why he resigned himself and after a long sigh returned to surround his arm in the waist of the other, He knew that sometimes he have to be patient so he could give the support the other needed._

“ _Well I suppose remembering how_ _Jongdae_ _and Chanyeol almost destroyed this whole place is something worth worrying about but, ... whatever you really think about, you should not carry it alone._ _You know you can trust me and also the others._ ” _Junmyeon_ _knew that the younger could always see under his masks and that he could not hide anything but he preferred to wait until he was ready, it was one of the reasons why he loved him._ _Before the leader could even think of anything to answer he felt the delicate touch of_ _Yixing's_ _lips_ _on his neck with a small kiss full of pure feeling on his part._ “ _Kyungsoo_ _prepared dinner, the others are waiting.”_

_Without saying another word, he slipped his arms from the older man's waist and instead chose to take his hand, intertwining his fingers as he began to guide him down the hallways to the main dining room._ _Junmyeon_ _knew he would have more time to worry about others, fear for the future that was coming as a distant storm but at the same time he was sure that as long as he had someone to protect he could overcome any obstacle that presented itself._

 

  

When he opened his eyes and saw King approaching him looking for attention, he could realize that despite the long night they had, he had managed to sleep peacefully. He had been sleeping next to Baekhyun for a few nights, thinking that maybe that way the younger would not feel so scared and in turn had helped himself with his nightmares. Most of the time he had woken up with nightmares of memories that he preferred to forget, for the first time in so long he had been able to wake up with his calm heart having a thought in mind: " _This time I will not fail and without a doubt I will protect you all, at each one of the members of my family.”_

 


	16. VI

Suho knew that they had to be careful, watch behind their backs and be cautious before any unexpected situation. It had been difficult to convince Baekhyun to leave the apartment, it had been a few days since they had met and the older one wanted to be sure that the other was in good condition in case they encountered another situation like the previous one.

 

In the days they spent resting in the apartment Suho had taken the task of preparing meals making sure that Baekhyun had something in his stomach, but when he opened the refrigerator and checked he realized that there wasn’t much to do, that explained why the other seemed to have lost a lot of weight. Although he knew he couldn’t say much about himself, because he hadn’t been taking care of his health as he should be but seeing the appearance of the younger Suho's instincts woke up again. Despite Baekhyun’s fear, the leader left the apartment to supply the place with things they would need for a few days because he had in mind to leave the city once they could visit the Church again after all, Lyon was no longer a safe place.

 

Although Baekhyun preferred to stay in the apartment, Suho insisted that he had a plan. They would observe what they could in the surroundings of the Church, they would investigate what they could and they would take their things to go to Marseille. He didn’t want the other to have the risk to find them again, the mere fact of mentioning them made Baekhyun shudder especially after the talk they had had a few nights ago.

 

Suho needed all his sanity to be able to control himself and not leave at that moment in search of those who had hurt them. The oldest had always felt certainly protective for the rest of the members, they were his family and he had great appreciation for each of them, which is why if someone was injured he felt guilty for not being able to avoid it. That’s why he felt a little paranoid on the streets of Lyon, looking around and staying alert. Baekhyun was by his side clinging to the hem of his shirt with a little fear of getting lost in the crowd, after all the streets of the city were always crowded.

 

He had decided that the best thing to do was to go out in the daylight to avoid any kind of encounter, and he was sure that if in the worst case scenario those people were still hanging around the Church they wouldn’t risk creating a scene if they were surrounded by people. Or at least that’s what they would like to believe.

 

Baekhyun was the one who knew the city so he was guiding them along the streets. If they were not in such situations Suho was sure they could have taken a break for a few days. The fact of not being alone was a great relief so if the circumstances had been different they could have had the luxury of enjoying the environment. Maybe even celebrate a little.

 

Lyon was very different from Marseille. It was much more populated, although perhaps the older one perceived it that way because previously he had lived isolated on the edge of the forest thinking that in that way he would avoid any kind of problems even if he could easily have camouflaged himself in the city. Lyon looked dazzling once the sun was setting, it was the impression that had left him the night he met Baekhyun. The surroundings of the church had been open to the public although with some areas with restricted passage but that had been the reason why Baekhyun had managed to escape the last time.

 

Suho didn’t want to waste time. If they could finish this fast it would be the right thing to do so they tried to cross the city in the shortest time possible and when they reached the doors of the Church they quickly moved to one side. The area Baekhyun had told him about seemed empty, and fit the description he had given.

 

The elder had more knowledge about the legends that the Sages had warned them but the knowledge he acquired was very limited, the library they had in their old home had lost several of their important documents and even though the leader had wanted to find more information that was useful to them had been very difficult. But if they could study what Baekhyun had found, it would be very helpful, or at least that's what he expected.

 

He wasn’t sure what was in front of him. He had seen the pictures before but seeing it in person was something completely different. The engravings on the walls were seen to be years old although that didn’t mean they weren’t clear and distinctive. They were each of the symbols that represented the twelve skills they had and in the center was what seemed to be the representations of the constellations. In the upper right side a bright sun, while in the lower left was a half moon. The older recalled some of the legends detailed in the books and how even the Sun and Moon being opposite, were also seen as both faces of the same entity and that these were the ones that collided in one as an omen. The representation of that collision was an eclipse. Unfortunately Suho hadn’t managed to know its meaning, he knew it was important but not in what form and how it would be involved with all of them.

 

“Suho?” He was so focused that he hadn’t realized that Baekhuyn had been trying to get his attention for a few seconds. The older hadn’t notice that the other was a few meters away, he hurried to shorten the distance between them and observe what he pointed out. Before them was what appeared to be an arc representation of an eclipse divided into stages showing each of the phases of the moon and how the closer the became the it complete the representation of the Sun. Below it could be seen the figure of a tree which Suho had seen millions of times along with a small inscription that read:

 

" Quand la lune monte et ciel devient plus lumineux

Le ciel gris vibrera et se fendira deux fois dans l'espace ,

Le passage parallèle à quatre dimensions n'ouvre qu'une fois "

 

"When the moon rises and the sky becomes brighter, the gray sky will shake and divide twice in space, the parallel step with four dimensions only opens once" ...You know what this means Baekhyun?” Said young man just shook his head and turned his gaze to the engraving.

 

“It means we don’t have much time.”

 

 

***

 

 

One of the most complicated things that Jongin had encountered in his life was not understanding the logistics of his abilities, being able to move from one place to another regardless of time or space, but having to endure Tao while going in and out of stores, that was an entirely different story.  

 

Jongin had been chasing him through every store for two days while buying clothes, accessories and items that Tao didn’t even need. The first meeting had not been what he expected, he believed that Tao would recognize him at once and could get going at any time and be able to find others, however the older did not seem to remember everything in detail, he claimed to remember some faces that he became familiar, or blurry images of what he considered were memories.

 

Even if he thought he was prepared for such situations and conversations, it was not something he could have foreseen. The only thing he expected was to be able to find answers to his extreme tiredness and his problem in order to be transported from one place to another. He was sure that Lyon was hiding something and he only wanted to find someone who could answer his questions.

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

 _Once he was in the comfort of his room he knew he could relax, it had been an exhausting day in which everyone had had to practice hard in order to master their skills, even if it was easy for them to invoke them without much effort. As for example_ _Sehun_ _, Chanyeol and_ _Junmyeon_ _that used nature itself to show it there were others like_ _Yixing_ _, Baekhyun,_ _Jongin_ _and_ _Luhan_ _himself_ _who used much of their concentration and energy not only in manipulating these but also for their abilities to work so much better._ _That was why_ _Luhan_ _was grateful that the day had come to an end after what seemed like an eternity, the only thing he craved more than anything was to fall on his bed without any worry and to sleep until the next day. He knew he had to take a shower first in order to finally relax.._

_Because he was one of the eldest, he had had the privilege of having one of the most spacious rooms even if he didn’t have many belongings. He hadn’t had the time to take valuable things while fleeing from what he once called home._

_He was so tired that he had done his routine without thinking, automatically going to the bathroom for a good shower._ _For some reason the “coaches” believed that it was a good idea for_ _Luhan to_ _train with everyone to be able to defend himself against any situation and this had been the day to face_ _Kyungsoo,_ _which is why the elder had ended up tired not only mentally but also physically as_ _Luhan_ _could contain some attacks but still was not fast enough and besides that he added the fatigue of the previous nights in which he had not been able to sleep._

_It was at times like those where he questioned whether everything they were doing was worth it. He knew that somehow the legends could be true that is, it would explain_ _why_ _they are different but it had been many years and had begun to believe that they would be one of the other generations past that only awaken their abilities to prevent an evil that never appears._

_He had lost track of time until he saw his fingers_ _begin_ _to wrinkle due to the time he was in the shower and began to feel the colder water._ _He took his time getting dressed in comfortable sleeping pants and a shirt that seemed to be 2 sizes too big, or could he have lost weight?_ _Yixing_ _had mention about it a few days ago._

_He left the bathroom with a small towel around his neck while drying his hair. He stopped in his track when he notice he wasn’t alone in the room._ _He leaned back against the doorframe crossing his arms as a smile began to spread across his face._

_He didn’t know how long it had taken him but_ _Sehun_ _was in his room, waiting for him sitting on his bed dressed only in pants to sleep._ _Luhan_ _sometimes thought that the younger was only looking to provoke him by prowling around in the night shirtless._

_“Can I ask, what do I own this pleasure?_ _Don’t get me wrong I’m not complaining but it's still a surprise.”_ _Instead of answering the other just shrugged his shoulders while his eyes admired from head to toe the boy who was in front of him._ “ _..._ _Sehun?_ ”

_Even without saying a word he got up and after a few steps was he was already facing_ _Luhan_. _Even if he was aware that_ _Sehun_ _was the youngest of them… sometimes he didn’t appear it. Starting with his height._ _They were four years apart but their height was slightly the same and even if_ _Sehun_ _sometimes acted in a childish way there were other occasions that surprised everyone with his level of maturity, although_ _Jongin_ _used to mention that he wasn’t mature it was more like his expression was very stoic and no one could know what was on his mind.._ _Similarly_ _Luhan_ _regarded him as someone special, for some reason the child had the_ _ability to comfort_ _him when his feelings and his past haunted him, with his arms always like warm shelter that provided protection._

_He returned his attention when he felt a light touch on his cheek, both hands holding his face. Long ago he had discovered how Sehun’s hands were big and rough but every time he touched_ _Luhan_ _they felt soft and delicate. The younger was searching for his eyes and after a few seconds he could hear his voice for the first time in the night._

“ _Are you okay?_ ” _hearing the hint of concern on his voice he took one of his hands intertwining his fingers without breaking eye contact at any time._

“ _A little tired, that's all._ ” _He said trying to hide the rest with a smile but seeing how_ _Sehun_ _frown knew that he could always see through him even when he wanted to hide it._ _After a few seconds he sighed tiredly and looked away._ “ _The nightmares are back.”_

“ _I saw you train with_ _Kyungsoo-hyung_ _today, you seemed very distracted ... do you think your dreams mean something?_ _Do you want to talk about them?_ ” _This time it was_ _Luhan_ _who decided not to answer yet without returning the look, but with just one expression and the slight squeeze he felt in his still interlaced hands were enough for him to get his answer. Even if all he wanted was for_ _Luhan to_ _answer his questions in a clear and direct way he knew that the eldest was very tired. He could see it in his complexion;_ _his dull eyes, the signs of lack of sleep under these, he was paler than normal so he knew that the most sensible thing was to leave the conversation for the next morning._ _His other hand, still resting on his right cheek, tangled one of his fingers in his hair._ “ _It's still wet.”_

_Luhan_ _smiled again, grateful for the change of subject_ “ _I just got out of the shower, you dumb. It's normal.”_

_Sehun_ _took the towel that was on the older man's neck and without letting go of his hand he directed them towards his bed._ _The younger leaned in the back of the bed forcing_ _Luhan_ _to take the place in between his legs, he would have refused had it not been for the exhaustion and the excruciating headache he felt._ _He shuddered with the contact, sometimes forgetting how well-built Sehun_ _was_ _but quickly relaxed in his embrace, dropping his weight on the younger boy's chest as he made gentle movements to dry his hair._

_He seemed to do it with caution to avoid bothering the older one._ _Luhan_ _didn’t know if it was the delicate movement or the lagging fatigue he was carrying, but he felt as the dream took over him and his eyelids felt more and more heavy._

_Sehun_ _knew that_ _Luhan_ _had fallen asleep after a few minutes, he was definitely tired._ _There were times when he wanted to pamper him, at first he hated the other with all his being because he saw him as a fake person but when he had the opportunity to meet him he could see that_ _Luhan_ _was really an extraordinarily complex person, but for some reason the older one had allowed him to destroy those walls that he built around him separating him from the others, and now he could be his support in the most difficult moments._

_Once he had dried_ _Luhan's_ _hair_ _completely, he set the towel aside and wrapped his arms around the eldest feeling almost instantly as the other moved to settle in another position._ _Luhan_ _was on his side leaning on his chest, it seemed that he was seeking refuge in those warm arms sleeping peacefully while listening to the child's heartbeat._

.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just wanted to write a little hunhan because I miss them so much. I'm sorry if the french is wrong I did my best but... well yeah.  
> It took me more than expected to upload this chapter because I'm currently writting some Sulay modern royal!au... because we all need Sulay and I felt attacked with some pictures on twitter.


	17. Vll

“Let me see if I got this right, are you saying that we were partners, friends almost family in a world parallel to this in which we "trained" each day with different "skills" to save our world that from one day to another was destroyed and now we are in this world trying to survive separately but you want to bring them all together again?” Tao and Jongin were at one of the tables at the back of one of the coffee shops in the city of Lyon.The boy had spent a few days following Tao, checking that his suspicions were true, Tao didn't remember anything about his past.So he decided to approach the other in the most subtle way possible but his plans did not go as planned.

 

“.... Mmm, yes. Basically that’s all you need to know at the moment.”

 

“Here you are sir.” One of the waitresses had approached the table where they were to give Jongin a bag of ice.Because when he finally approached Tao to introduce himself, the other was so surprised and had used one of his martial arts movements by taking his arm and making a hook until he threw him on the ground, he quickly sat on his chest and gave him a blow to the face, Jongin could’ve defend himself but he was not so fast and when he less expected Tao was preparing for the next blow. The younger shouted his name quickly, managing to draw his attention and making him stop.

 

“Sorry about a while ago.”He was quick to say when he saw the other let out an exclamation of pain when he pressed the ice pack over his eye which was turning purple due to inflammation.

 

“No problem, I think at least certain things have not changed.”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

Jongin looked up, making eye contact with Tao and he could see the small smile appearing on the others face, one that showed a feeling of melancholy.

 

“You used to be the one who spent the most time training martial arts or physical combat.”

 

“... I'm not sure how to take that but, I believe you. I was the best in my martial arts classes.And although what you say sounds very strange, it give sense to what happened a few days ago.”

 

Seeing that Jongin did not understand what he meant, he looked sideways making sure no one was listening.“Listen, I know this sounds a little strange but ... I think I'm different from other people.”

 

“That’s exactly what I just said Tao, we are not even human, weren’t you paying attention?

 

“Yes,Yes, I heard your blah-blah-blah but I mean, I'm special.” The child was not sure if it was due to the fatigue of the effort he had made in recent days or the fact that his head was constantly pressing for the blow he had received but was beginning to get irritated, he felt that they were wasting time.

 

“I think I have super powers.”

 

“... Yes ... and?”

 

“What does that not surprise you?That's not normal.”

 

“I told you, none of us is normal, we all have different abilities.Yours is time.”

 

“You know, your tone is not very friendly.”

 

“It would be if someone hadn't thrown me on the floor, what is wrong with you?You can't go around attacking anyone who approaches you.”

 

“Well, sorry for reacting that way”Now his tone did not seem sincere. “You would too if strangers were following you.”

 

Jongin knew exactly what he meant.That feeling of being observed, feeling the expectation of any approach, distrust of everyone around him.

 

“Have you seen anyone strange these days?”

 

“You could say so. That is why I traveled here, honestly panic seized me after I met a very strange guy.Too bad, Spain was a good place.”

 

“Yeah, I've been there before. It’s really an amazing place.Wait a moment, Spain ... were you in Barcelona?”

 

“Yes. How did you know?”

 

Instead of answering, Jongin just showed him the message he had received a few days ago.By the date Tao deduced that he had been received a day before he was in the cafeteria.They tried to track the sender, but it was useless.

 

“Who could have sent that message?”

 

“I don't have the slightest idea, but they wanted us to meet there.But you left…?”

 

He didn't know why but Tao felt nervous trying to remember what had happened that day, even when he related what happened he had a bad feeling.And more now that they knew there was someone trying to move them.Jongin hurriedly got up from the chair scaring the other, who left the money on the table, took his bags and followed him.

 

He had to jog a little to keep up with Jongin but due to his height it didn't take long.

 

“Hey, hey wait.Where are you going?”

 

“We must hurry.If what you saw means what I think it is, we are in trouble.” Jongin could feel his heart racing.Now everything made sense.The initial plan was to go to Barcelona but someone intercepted him because in reality if Tao had moved from there his presence wouldn’t have any sense in the place, he would ended up running in circles. “And that would also explain why I am here.If Lyon was in one of the cities… there must be someone else, someone who is probably in danger.”

 

“Ok. I understand that but, how are we going to find whoever we are looking for?” It was a good point, Jongin stopped to think a little. He looked around and felt lost, the frustration he had felt before came rushing back to him. Although even if now counts with Tao’s company he still felt lost, no matter where he saw they were surrounded by people, _Did the people of the city ever slept?_

 

He thought that maybe the area could be a reference that should be taken into account and had to trust that everything was happening for a reason.Maybe they really shouldn't go anywhere and all they had to do was wait.He took Tao's hand and began to guide him through the streets to surround the stores and leaving his mind blank, without any specific location ... disappeared.

 

“What the hell was that?!”

 

He sighed and waited a few seconds before opening his eyes, as he had suspected, they were again at the doors of the cathedral.He tried to ignore Tao's complaints as he directed his gaze around, he must find something.A clue, a trace something that would tell him why that place was so important.

 

It happened so quickly that if he had not been expecting something he might have lost it. Jongin did not even have the time to formulate the question that was in his thoughts when he began to enter the heap of people around him.He didn't want to lose sight of it, I wasn't 100% sure but ... Had he seen Kris?

 

It was obvious that the elder did not remember anything or else would have mentioned something about it instead of being scandalized and chattering about how they had gotten there or where they were going. He thought of shouting his name, of hurrying and reaching it effortlessly but there was something about the boy's posture that kept him away, that made him go with caution telling Tao to remain silent. Kris was not alone and... Jongin would recognize those uniforms anywhere.

 

 

 

***

 

 

 

To think that they were going against the clock frightened him a little but he knew that he was a bit limited about his abilities.The comet was approaching, they had to know exactly the date on which the solar eclipse would take place but more importantly he had to find out what the consequences would be.He had read about it, the moment they encountered difficulties in facing the darkness and the twelve forces will be gathered together the eclipse would be what would define if they could succeed or ... perish like those who carried their mission thousands of years ago.

 

Suho was confused.He knew and had to do something about it, but first of all they should leave the city.Lyon was not safe, even if had found valuable information they could not continue to be exposed in that way.He was aware that Baekhyun was far outside his comfort zone, exposed just outside the church just where he had met Kris a few days ago.If they had been found in Lyon, it meant they were on their heels.Although he used to wonder, if Baekhyun did not leave the apartment so often and had not been very social with his neighbors ... how did they find him?

 

The only thing in his minf right now is the fact that he didn’t want the events of a few days ago be repeated so he would make sure to take care of Baekhyun and the others when he found them, even if he wasn't sure where to start looking.For the moment, all he could do was stay alert.Maybe they could go back to Marseille. He was sure they could stay there for a few days while they planned more calmly where to go next.He was so immersed in his thoughts that he did not realize that at the end of one of the corridors that led him to the exit he was occupied by two people.He stopped in his tracks, the boy behind him bumping on his back when he stopped abruptly.Suho hear how the sudden gasp behind him and felt him cling to his shirt.

 

He tried to show himself stoic, he didn't want to betray himself in front of them even if inside he heard sirens telling him to take Baekhyun's hand and run as fast as he could.He tried to keep calm not only for himself but also for the other, who was more than terrified.A few seconds passed but no one made any movement.Even if he was a few feet away Suho believed in what the other had told him nights ago, Kris looked different.Not only his rigid and restrained posture but also his cold and empty gaze and at his side… Kim Sang Ki.One of the doctors who had been in charge of some of his interrogations.

 

“Baekhyun, I want you to turn around and run to the exit.I will distract them.” He said without taking his eyes off the other two.”

 

“ ... No.” The older one could feel Baekhyun's grip just getting stronger.

 

“Baekhyun ...”

 

“I don't want to be alone again.” With that, Suho knew he wouldn't change his mind.He tried to come up with a plan to escape without attracting much attention when he saw his opponents begin to move forward.

 

“Is that you Suho?” The boy did not want to give him the satisfaction of showing him how insecure he felt for what he preferred not to answer.He knew the man just wanted to play with him again.Kris stopped while Sang Ki took a few more steps to the center.His appearance was just as Suho remembered, perhaps the only difference he could notice was the black glasses he wore covering his eyes.

 

“I was trying to meet our little Baekhyun again but the fact that you are here makes everything easier.What do you think if we do this in the calmest way?There are many people out there and we will not want to attract attention, besides this time ... I do not have much patience.I would rather not have to expose myself for a long time in the sun, did you know how harmful it is?”

 

Before any of them could say anything else Kris began to move in their direction, but after a few steps he stopped.It seemed motionless, in the same way Sang Ki did not seem to move a single muscle, it seemed slight but he also noticed that the sounds around him seemed to have disappeared, being surrounded by a sudden silence.Suho was about to wonder what was happening when he understood.He began to look around, he had to be close. They were lucky that the corridors they were in were not crowded with people, tourists were limited to the front of the church since there were restricted areas.

 

“Suho ... are you thinking what I’m thinking?” In short they thought the same, there was only one explanation for it.He didn't have time to say it when he saw him, for a moment he thought his eyes were deceiving him.

 

It was a matter of seconds, at one time they were only four and in the next Jongin appeared in front of them.The child's reaction was instantaneous, surrounding Baekhyun and him in his arms. The thought of having found Baekhyun the night before had been a great stroke of luck and now Jongin and ...

 

“Tao stopped time but it is somewhat unstable, we must get out of here we don't know how much time we have.”

 

“Jongin!But ... I don't understand. How is that ...?”

 

“It's a long Hyung story but we saw Kris and the other guy in the streets and we followed them, he seemed very suspicious.But now is not the time, we can discuss it later.”

 

Suho knew he was right and although he wanted to ask him a million questions he just nodded.

 

“Wow, you must admit that I'm awesome.”The three turned their gaze to Tao who was next to Sang Ki.

 

“Tao!Get away from them, they are dangerous.”  Suho hurried to the side of the child, taking him by the hand, indicating Baekhyun and Jongin to follow him but there was something that caught his attention, being so close to the doctor he noticed something strange on his side.

 

“You know, those glasses are the latest edition and have a very high price. They can be our enemies but they know quality and good brands.” Suho didn't know if he should be grateful that Tao's personality remained intact or worry about the fact that he hadn't mentioned anything related to Kris. The child's tone could sound relaxed but the leader could see how the other's breathing began to sound uneasy.

 

The elder took a last look before hurrying others to continue on his way, if Tao did not remember things, it meant that he had also forgotten the control of his abilities so they had to act fast.He was leading Jongin while he was telling him how they could find them.

 

“Suho!” He quickly turned around when he heard the tone of concern of Baekhyun, who was holding a tired Tao who seemed to be on the verge of collapse.Even if a few seconds ago he seemed to have been in perfect condition he should remember that his abilities resided from his own vital energy and he did not count on the environment to intensify it as in the case of his emanating from the elements.It was worse when he saw that his nose had start to bleed. He had found himself worried that he did not notice how the air changed slightly.The sound came back signaling that time was running again.

 

He took Tao's arm over his shoulder in order to carry his weight.

 

“Run!”

 

No need to repeat it when Jongin and Baekhyun obeyed.Unfortunately they knew they had a few seconds of advantage before Kris reached them, after all they had not been able to make much progress.

 

“No matter what happens we must reach the front of the cathedral.If we are surrounded by people it will be enough to get attention.”

 

“But Suho!” 

 

“Now!”

 

They didn't have the time to argue so they just obeyed.Baekhyun was about to look over his shoulder to see if they were being followed when he felt a weight on him knocking him down completely.He tried to get up quickly but when he turned around he realized that Kris was on him.He tried to escape but the older immobilized him with great force.

 

He heard Jongin calling him urgently before appearing on Kris's back in an attempt to distract him but the elder was stronger and in one movement he managed to get rid of Jongin's grip and with one arm he caused such a strong blow he crashed into the wall.While with his other hand he took Baekhyun by the neck who was still on the floor.The child tried to break free but the pressure in his neck increases every second.He could feel the air escaping from his lungs, tried to struggle against him but his efforts were weaker, his vision became blurred and he began to lose consciousness.He was engulfed in total darkness for a few seconds, when he felt the pressure on his neck disappear and his lungs struggled to fill with oxygen again.He tried to catch his breath as he felt like some arms helped him to his feet.

 

He wasn't sure how he still had enough strength left but Tao had tackled Kris. In the past, Kris had been one of Tao's only rivals in hand-to-hand fights.The youngest felt tired, the absence of speed in his movements was a clear sign of that.Baekhyun was still trying to stand up when he heard Suho call Jongin who had also managed to stand up.

 

Tao took advantage of the distraction to strike a blow strong enough to establish distance between Kris and the others, Jongin took his hand and they both headed towards Suho. Before disappearing Baekhyun was sure he heard the sound of a gunshot.


	18. Chapter VIII

The weather had been changing continuously, going from sunny days to endless rains. The latter made him feel melancholy, sadness and regret in his heart ... it was probably because it was the perfect weather to think, to remember and that is exactly what the boy did not want.

 

Every time he closed his eyes could see the images playing before him, every time he was silent he could hear those words with the malicious tone of Yang which enraged him again. Sehun had been locked in the room for hours, the rest had tried to convince him to go out and talk to them but they hadn't had good results.

 

When they had met Chanyeol and Kyungsoo they felt even greater relief, especially since the circumstances in which they found themselves were dangerous for them. Sehun knew that he could have fought with anyone, after all he didn't feel in the mood to forgive anyone's life. Fortunately that had not been necessary. He was sure that any of the members would have tried to stop him again just like Minseok has done, he couldn't blame them.

 

By the time they had found themselves safe and they were not persecuted, they could afford to breathe calmly and get carried away a little in the moment. Sehun had not realized he'd been shaking until Chanyeol wrapped him in a tight embrace as if he feared that the child would disappear at any time, assumed it was a way to comfort even if the older didn’t know exactly what had  happened a few minutes before. But for a moment, however short he wanted to be able to relax and let the elder's heat calm him a little.

 

He wasn't sure where they were but he thought he heard that Kyungsoo had got an apartment where they could hide a few days before moving again, it was obvious that they couldn't stay in the capital. The apartment itself was not very spacious, it had two bedrooms and a small room that at the same time contained its kitchen. Once all the hugs and expressions of happiness for meeting again were over, they gave way to serious discussion. Kyungsoo and Chanyeol commented on what they knew so far, how they had met outside Arizona but also had to flee because they were found. The doctors were not playing around, they were moving too fast.

 

On the table in the living room, Kyungsoo had deployed a map large enough for them to review together. The boy told them what he had been doing in recent weeks and how he believed he had managed to find them, the information he had obtained by hacking the computers of his enemies and what had happened in Arizona. Chanyeol and Minseok also had their turns to recount what they had lived while they were alone and the second took the initiative to speak instead of Sehun to keep them aware about what they had seen in the orphanage and then in the parking lot because he knew the younger still did not feel prepared to talk about it.

 

Sehun tried to listen to the rest, but in reality his thoughts were far removed from others. The only thing he could think of was that the "communication" he had managed to have with Luhan had more foundation since Kyungsoo had also had an approach with the elder but ... at the same time he was worried. _Was it really Luhan communicating with them?_ He didn't want to doubt it ... but it seemed a little suspicious, mainly because of the fact that as incredible as that kind of communication sounded was not something Luhan could do, at least not something that Sehun knew. If what Yang had said was true ... the elder had gone through a lot but still had found a way to help them.

 

Things like that were the ones that made him enraged, for he remembered how careless and impulsive Luhan was about his abilities and the cost it meant to him. Always pushing the limit regardless of the consequences. If he had to be honest, Sehun always had some fear for Luhan's abilities, they were changing and very extensive.

 

His abilities were not limited to levitate objects or move them with his mind, but he knew that they went beyond it, even his instructors treated him carefully because they knew that his true nature was something that was still unknown but did not take away the fact that just lie Yixing , Baekhyun, Jongin and Tao required a great deal of physical and mental effort.

 

The five often suffered the consequences of it and it was something the Sehun hated, hated with every fiber of his being to see his brothers suffer. This was attributed to the fact that Luhan currently did not have his catalyst ... he still remembered how the elder suffered from unbearable headaches just by dreaming. Some of his dreams were premonitory but no one else knew that. In fact that information was still kept as secret between them. It is not like Luhan could see the future in dreams but he could see certain possible scenarios, however these were always accompanied by the decision-making variable after all the future was something very changing and sometimes unpredictable even for the elder.

 

Kyungsoo tried to explain in detail how the radio and the transmissions worked and that he also believed to have heard information about their enemies… apparently they took one step forward. He wasn't sure how the stupid directors had managed to get to Edinburgh before them, unfortunately they hadn't had much luck and were discovered and persecuted by the city. There was something strange going on but could not feel safe about it.

             

Minseok told them what had happened, tried to explain what they had observed. How he seemed to be right that they were trying to replicate their powers, how dangerous that was and how it seemed the doctors had no idea of what they were doing. It was very obvious that he could not manipulate the forces with which they were playing. He felt a little insecure in telling them about what he had discussed with the doctor but he didn't see the case in hiding anything from them, it was painful but it was the truth and hiding the things would not lead to anything good. They must be sincere.

 

Chanyeol just listened , he still felt a little dazed because there were some of his memories that were not yet back and he also felt puzzled by the information he had found in that diary. At first he believed that they were merely legends, stories of something that was not related to them but the more he read it the more he seemed accurate and it scares him. He also knew that he had to share it with the rest but for some reason he felt fearful. All the way to Edinburgh he had evade the questions Kyungsoo had done and since the younger was more focused on the directions it wasn’t that difficult.

 

Sehun had been so absorbed in his thoughts that he had not noticed the silence that had taken possession of the room and how others maintained their fixed on him with a mixture of awe and fear on their eyes. He hadn't been paying attention to what they were discussing but he was sure that Minseok had mentioned his discussion with Yang but for some reason the minor sensed that he hadn't mentioned anything about Baekhyun and Jongdae ... not for the moment. Kyungsoo recovered quickly replacing his astonishment by a serious and distant look, while Chanyeol approached him and tried to hug him again but for some reason Sehun refused. He didn't want sympathy for the moment, He was sure it was a matter of time for them to start with moral speeches and how each life was precious regardless of anything but in reality ... the child did not regret it, he was sure that if the could go back in time things would have had the same end. He didn't expect words of comfort because he knew they would only be lies from the rest, none of them could think that what he had done was wrong.

 

Everyone had suffered at the hands of doctors, scientists and guards either with personal injuries or hurting others but he knew that if any of them repressed him for what he had done they would be lying to themselves and if there was something Sehun hated, were the lies. He couldn't stand it for another second so he stood up and locked himself in one of the rooms, which he only left for a few minutes a day. He knew that they could not afford to go out and walk the streets but he was beginning to feel suffocated, especially because he continued to perceive the eyes of others and how sooner or later they would have to talk.

 

Minseok and K yungsoo began to devise strategies on their next movements, the minor carried with him a map on which he had marked each of the cities in which the comet was going to be visible which agreed with some that were in the Database of their enemies. They didn’t know if it had actually been coincidence of how each of the members had been in one of those cities. Kyungsoo began to cross out the cities in which they had found each other starting with Edinburgh, Berlin, Colorado and Arizona. Even so, there were six cities on the map to which Kyungsoo suggested they should be aware of news or any article that might attract attention.

 

Unfortunately, having decreased the chances did not guarantee a simple success because they were not small spaces , they were talking about entire cities, countries or even the entire continent, not to mention the fact that perhaps one of the members could have moved just like them. They were not sure of what could happen and he was doubting the functionality of his radio after all, hit had suffered some accidents in the chase.

 

The first thing they could do was search in London and Barcelona after all, it was not so far away. Look for a person in an entire city was like looking for a needle in a haystack. If they find one of the members they were extremely lucky. Sehun didn't want to be selfish but a part of him hoped Luhan could help them again, although that would mean an effort for the elder.

 

The next cities would be Lyon and Marseille. Then they would have to worry about the furthest as Almaty and Yunnan since they were the most remote .

 

The elders had gone to rest but Sehun had spent it all the time in the room that felt the need to move a little. He shared a room with Chanyeol but for some reason the child did not feel ready to talk to anyone. He had gone from feeling anger to sadness from one moment to another that now he felt empty and having plenty of time for it made him hear that irritating voice in his head that told him that what he had done was wrong. He tried to justify his actions thinking that it was a bad person that had tortured his family but still ... it was a person. An ordinary human regardless of his actions and having taken his life in that way did not made him better than them.

 

In reality, Sehun didn't want to feel confused. That confusion made him think too much and that had never been part of his personality but he didn't understand why this time was different, in the end it wasn't the first time he'd taken someone else's life with his hands. That thought made him feel much worse.

 

He was sitting in one of the armchairs in the living room staring at his hands that he didn't notice when Chanyeol had followed him out of the room. He took the place next to the child but kept his eyes straight ahead.

 

“Do you want to talk about it?” Chanyeol said, to which the younger shake his head.

 

“Do you want to be alone?”

 

“... No.”

 

Everyone knew what Sehun sometimes was closed with the rest and although he usually stay quiet  or put his stoic expression, Chanyeol knew that the inside he was like a child.

 

“Look, I know what you're thinking. I know that you feel the inner conflict between revenge and guilt. But I want you to know that whatever is torturing you is not your fault, I know what it feels like. Hurting people like those doctors who believe that what they do is right, to think they are the reason for such a radical way of act is not something you should feel bad about. I think ... It's worse to hurt those you care about without realizing it.”

 

“That's not what worries me, hung. It’s more the fact that there are more like him in this world and to them…seeing others hurt seems like a joke.”

 

“You’re right. I am a bad example you know? I should be here giving you words of support on how what you did was wrong but that would be very hypocritical of me.”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“I mean that a part of me feels annoyed that it was not myself who took courage to do what you did. Especially because now I only think that the next time I see them ...” Sehun turned his gaze to meet the serious expression of the elder. “Next time, I will kill them all.”

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

 

 

He felt lost again, insecure, paranoid and at some extent scared, but he couldn't avoid the emotion and adrenaline he felt.

 

It had been a few days since the time he found himself in the lake and he realized that he was different from the others, the fact of being able to handle the electricity seemed incredible but it scared him. It didn’t seem like something hw could play with. He should be careful because he could easily get hurt or worse… he could hurt someone else and that was something Chen didn’t want.

 

The night it happened he felt scared, he could remember his frustration and despair and how they seized his being in such way and how he lost control over himself. So much so that he even came to think that what had happened had been a mere coincidence, something with the weather because, _Who could possibly control thunders?_ No human being could have that ability.

 

However, he couldn't ignore that voice in his head that told him that for the first time since he could remember he was doing something right, that he was right. Perhaps what he read in one of his books  now had meaning, the people have two types of memories, memories of the mind which were based on our memories and experiences; and memories of the body those who by habit, inertia or something we cannot control but they felt familiar to ourselves. That is exactly how he felt at the time, he knew that it was not normal for him to have that kind of ability, but something inside told him that it had been something that he felt familiar.

 

He could remember the sensation of that moment, as the tingling feeling in his fingertips spread through his arms until he could feel it all over his body and after keeping it, his body indicated that it should be released. This was probably bigger than what he thought, maybe his ability was not limited to creating lightning if he did not make a conduit of electricity for that vast amount of energy. He couldn't be able to hold it for too long, after all he was talking about a lot of energy and that could be very dangerous.

 

However, being aware of this he tried to do it again. He wanted to verify that what had happened that night had not been a mere coincidence, that it had not been an illusion created by his brain and that he had not imagined it. But he couldn’t. Many options, many variables that would make the circumstances different.

 

First was the weather, it was very different to that night. All the days that had followed had been lit by an eminent sun, the streets of Almaty seemed a bit desolate since the rest of the people preferred to stay at home or in some type of shopping center where they could have access to the air conditioning so witnessing a thunderstorm looked very scarce. He used to go back to the lake every night waiting for something different to happen, no matter how much he waited…nothing happened .

 

On the other hand, his dreams became more and more constant that he was sure of. He used to wake up with the feeling of having dreamed something he could not remember, however this time he was not as frustrated as before.

 

There were times when he remembered fragments of his dreams he seemed to remember some facial features, some really incredible landscapes that he never thought he could visit, he even thought that those places were not even part of his memories but of those he had imagined when he read the pages of his favorite books transported to different unimaginable worlds. But there was something he could not put aside.

 

His feelings were what told him what he thought was worth remembering and how there were also nights when he woke up with an adrenaline feeling running through his veins or even that sadness and pain that made him wake up with tears running down his cheeks, however… not everything was bad.

 

There were times when he woke up with a smile on his face. For some reason he thought that whatever he dreamt of made him feel happy. Not like a temporary happiness, not an empty feeling but a pure happiness that fills you completely, in the same way could feel something was not 100% sure but he had an vague idea ... Love.

 

Him not remember his past made him wonder if he ever loved someone. If he ever felt the need to share everything with a specific someone all the time just to feel his heart at ease. He had read many books about how different authors described the feeling of love as something so light but at the same time deep, others described it as something sweet but bitter at the same time, as something delicate and soft but at the same time something passionate and crude.

 

Most times he questioned whether at some point in his life he had felt something similar.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did not want to be one of those writers who disappeared for quite some time in the middle of their stories but really that these days I have been short of time, in addition to my madness of starting a Sulay royal! Au and a vmin Fairy! Au, so that has also taken part of my time


	19. Chapter IX

 

Sometimes he got frustrated by how easily distracted he was on important occasions, he was able to stay focused and do his work, but there were times in which the same concentration made him ignore things around him.

 

 

Initially he did not care because he believed that he was thinking things too much and it was just the stress on him, but he realized he was wrong.

 

For some reason he began to feel anxious. He thought that it was because he had not been able to sleep well the last few nights, his dream was always interrupted by what he believed were nightmares although he was not very sure of it because he never remembered what it is that he had dreamed. He only woke up feeling anxious as his heart beat fast and his body trembled even if he was sweating. In addition, both the bakery and the restaurant were increasingly crowded with customers, which on one hand was good because it meant that their products were well received generating greater profits but at the same time it was very tiring to work all day without resting.

 

 

But nevertheless he could realize different things, the weather seemed to be changing indicating that summer was just around the corner. He had different episodes regarding the rain but over time he realized that it was not so bad. In the beginning the rains made him stay awake at night but now they seemed to be a lullaby that helped him sleep, of course on the occasions when he could fall asleep. 

 

 

On the other hand he had noticed something strange about Zhou, the first few times he did not care because he believed the older was very tired just like him, however one of the nights in which the nightmares woke him and it seemed that he would not be able to fall asleep again, he left the confort of his bed and went to have chamomile tea, but when he returned from the kitchen something made him stop in the middle of the room.

 

 

Zhou had a small study next to his room which had never caught his attention so much, in fact if he thought about it he had never visited it. But he had noticed that every time the old man felt dejected, anguished and sometimes sad he locked himself in that room for hours. The only thing the young man knew is the old man kept the things he most appreciated inside. Like the time he surprised him while he was reviewing a box full of photos that the old man later clarified were from his late son, but at that time the boy had only tried to comfort him.

 

 

Perhaps it was the absence of sleep, or that lately the behavior of the elder had been somewhat unstable but the curiosity has increased to the level that he could not prevent his feet from moving alone towards the room. Zhou should have returned to his room for a few seconds because the studio door was open, a lamp on the top of the desktop emitted its light around the room, it seemed odd that the door will be ajar but perhaps the older did not know that Lay was awake. 

 

Part of him felt bad because he felt very curious but he did not want to interrupt the others privacy, he respected him a lot.

 

 

He almost looked out to close the door and return to his room when something caught his attention. The studio was not very wide, with the walls of a cream color as well as the rest of the apartment, it had a large bookcase that occupied one of the sides.

 

He knew that the old man loved science, mathematics as well as literature, after all Lay had been his only confidant for a long time to know how intelligent the old man was, not just the kind of intelligence it used to characterize to older people by having more experience in many aspects of their life but as an intellectual.

 

There were occasions in which they spent nights watching old documentaries on television, or the afternoons in which the old man spent his time enlighten Lay on any subject, from curious animal data to political and scientific analyzes that sometimes left him more confused than satisfied with his answers. 

 

 

He knew that Zhou had his secrets, things of his past that he did not share with him but knew that it was not his place to insist and that if it was something important at some point he would let him know. However, this time he felt a little agitated by the lack of sleep and anxiety that caused him to think that it would be another night full of nightmares that he would not remember after, that made him feel a little reckless. 

 

 

As he entered the room, those feelings did not diminish, in fact they only increased more. He approached the desk which was full of papers, newspaper articles and half-read books. Zhou was a very tidy and meticulous person regarding hygiene but his study was messy and some of the books on the shelves were covered with dust ... maybe they were books he hadn't read for a while.

 

Some of those on the desk were written in languages that Lay did not understand except for some illustrations that reminded him of the stories the elder told him. His gaze turned to the newspapers, some of the articles talked about the increase and losses of some companies due to fluctuations in the stock market. Others were about cases of missing persons and strange events in some cities. He could not understand if there was some kind of connection between all the documents but in the end each one of them dealt with topics that used to interest the older. 

 

 

He was beginning to feel guilty for having snooped in Zhou's privacy and when he was about to turn around and return to his room he noticed a small box on the desk. He had not noticed it at first but it was made of wood, with a small padlock keeping it closed, he knew that it was not where he kept the photos of his late son and other memories because that was on shelves in the bookcase. This box on the other hand, was something that Zhou had never shown him, there was an article under it, one that had several notes on the edges. The news was about the appearance of a comet, which could be visible within a few weeks, Lay had never seen one, or at least he didn't remember doing it.

 

 

 

“ Lay? What are you doing awake?”

 

The boy was startled to hear the voice behind him, quickly turned around still with the box in his hands. He was about to apologize when he saw the expression on the older man's face changing from a look of tiredness to one full of fear. 

 

 

“ I'm so sorry, it wasn't my intention to snoop around.”

 

He hastened to say. Instead of answering Zhou advanced until he was in front of him, taking the box in his hands to return it to its place. Lay watched as the other quickly moved the documents on the desk.

 

 

“ It's late. You should go to rest.”

 

 

“I know, I just couldn't sleep.” Upon mentioning this, Zhou turned around with concern.

 

 

“ Did you have nightmares again?”

 

 

“ I think so, but I can't remember what I dreamed.”

 

 

“ You must not force yourself, you know it may be a matter of time. Now, why don't you go back to sleep?” 

 

Zhou took the cup the boy had left on the table and accompanied him to the living room. 

 

 

“ Good night, Lay.”

 

He could only watch as Zhou locked himself back in the studio leaving him alone in the darkness of the room. He waited a few seconds in which his eyes adjusted to the darkness before returning to bed. However this time falling asleep was not so difficult even if he kept thinking about the scrabbles from the news and how some of them were similar to the illustrations he had seen in one of the books. For the first time since he met Zhou, he felt restless about the secrets the old man hid.

  
  
 

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

  
 

 

The first thing he felt was how his head was spinning, still struggling to stabilize his breathing which made it difficult due to an oppression he felt on his chest. He had forgotten the feeling of traveling with Jongin and the fact that Suho had not allowed him to leave the apartment with an empty stomach was not very favorable for the moment. 

 

 

He opened his eyes when he heard Suho's voice like a muffled sound calling for Tao. His ears surely affected by the pressure of having crossed the edges of time and space. He realized that the weight he felt on him was actually Jongin who seemed to be shaking and breathing hard.

 

 

“ Jongin?”

 

Baekhyun shuddered a little because of how sore his voice sounded in addition to the pain in his throat, he did not like to remember in this way the strength that Kris possessed.

 

 

The boy began to sit up and giving Baekhyun space to do the same, he felt his head spin when he sat next to Jongin. His fully enlightened vision and ears back to normal allowed him to hear that Suho was trying to keep Tao conscious and try to calm him down. Now that they were safe, his heart felt light at the thought of meeting the youngers.

 

 

“ Hyung , are you hurt?”

 

 

“ No, I ...”

 

He felt like his brain couldn’t function properly. His senses a bit lethargic. He had forgotten that they had transported just before heard the sound of a gun, his body was free of serious injuries except for a few bruises, Suho looked tired and worried as he wiped traces of blood from Tao’s pale face. He turned quickly when he heard a whimper coming from Jongin, the bullet had reached his right arm.

 

 

“ Jongin!”  He exclaimed worriedly moving to the boy watching a huge red patch obscure his shirt. 

 

 

“ It's nothing, Hyung.”

 

 

“ How can you call that nothing?! There is a bullet in your arm. Does it hurts a lot?”

 

 

Before he could say anything, Suho was in front of them. He took a handkerchief from his pocket and tied it tightly around Jongin's bloodied arm, hearing how he let out a groan as well as a grimace of pain on his face he tried to comfort him with his words but he knew it was useless for the moment. They had to take shelter and recover some energy.

 

 

“ Jongin, I need you to apply some pressure on the wound, ok? You should not lose much blood. I will go to Tao and we will seek refuge.”

 

 

“ Where are we?”

 

Baekhyun helped Jongin stand up while looking around for the first time. They were surrounded by trees, far from the city or at least that's what it looked like.

 

 

“ Jongin ... Where are we?”

 

 

“I do not know.” seeing the surprised face of the older he added. “My powers aren’t working well”.

 

 

“ What do you mean?”

 

 

“ Lately I can't control them. I think we are still in Lyon.”

 

 

“ We are in Marseille. I know this forest.” Baekhyun and Jongin exchanged glances at Suho words.

 

 

Suho kept his hand on Tao's back in case he needed help. He began to guide them through the trees reminding them to be cautious where they stepped, what they least needed was that Jongin's wound got infected.

 

The atmosphere was contrary to what they had witnessed in Lyon, Marseille was humid. Baekhyun assumed that it had just stopped raining since the air felt a little heavy due to the fog that was beginning to form, the ground beneath his feet was unstable and most of it turned to mud.  

 

 

He was beginning to believe that the forest was endless until he saw in the distance what appeared to be a warehouse. The leader quickly guided them to it and proceeded to open it easily and venture into it with nature. He went on to give orders that no one questioned, even if all of them had questions about what had just happened.

 

Suho thanked himself for his decision of not to get rid of anything before leaving for Lyon but he knew that this time he should. He planned to keep the plan he had devised from the beginning, Marseille could be his hiding place for a few days at least when Jongin recovered to travel again and then they should leave for a different place, he had no idea where they should go now that no place seemed to be safe. 

 

His enemies could be anywhere in the world like the rest of the members, all he could hope for was that the rest did not have to find themselves in a situation like theirs. 

 

 

He moved throughout the apartment in a matter of seconds, placing Tao in one of the chairs so he could rest while he searched for the first-aid kit he had bought from the start. 

 

He had never felt comfortable relying on Yixing when it came to injuries or even bruises, so he had been careful to learn the basics in first aid and also to make sure that the rest would learn with him if necessary. Initially Yixing had been upset with him since he considered that he did not trust him enough to be able to care for him and for the rest, after all he felt that it was his responsibility to possess healing skills but eventually he understood that Suho's intentions were for their well-being, they had many discussions, misunderstandings and differences but the young man realized that at the end of the day he also had his limits and knew that if he was hurt or was too weak, it would not be useful to the rest. 

 

 

When he found what he needed, he prepared to attend Jongin with the assistance of Baekhyun. While the other was getting water and some towels, Suho had begun to remove the handkerchief he had previously tied over the wound, which fortunately had not been so deep but that did not mean it was not dangerous. The bleeding had decreased a little but he knew that at the time of removing the bullet the process of closing the wound and bandaging it had to be precise and efficient to avoid further blood loss. He watched how looked tired, sweat ran down his forehead and blinked heavily. Baekhyun knew what it was going to happen so he left everything Suho might need around him and sat on Jongin’s left side taking his hand and covering it with his. He gave him a little squeeze in a supporting way and he understood what the elder was trying to say. _I'm here._  

 

 

He then felt the light touch of the leader on his arm, he trusted him but knew it would be painful.  

 

 

“ Jongin, I need you to do your best to stay awake. This will hurt, but I promise you to do my best to relieve the pain quickly.”

 

 

He felt time going agonizingly slowly, trying to keep his mind occupied but in reality the pain did not allow him to think about anything. During the whole process Suho had limited himself to working with safe and agile movements but he was starting to feel tired, it was probably because the adrenaline had gone down too fast, having to control his emotions by having met one of the doctors, with his brothers and having to face Kris , or perhaps what made him feel more sleepy was one of Baekhyun's hands playing with his hair in order to comfort and distract him while the other continued to hold him giving the support and security he needed. In addition to this, transporting had consumed his energies a lot, perhaps it was because he had not taken someone with him for some time and assumed that Suho's thoughts had been clearer than his at the time of escape.  

 

 

Fortunately Suho had managed to extract the bullet, after cleaning the wound he continued to close it and bandage it. He let out a sigh finally relieved that everything had gone well, ruffled Jongin’s hair smiling tiredly before start putting things in the medicine cabinet but not before taking some cotton to disinfect the small wound on his face. From Jongin’s expression, he realized that he had not been aware of the small wound on his right cheek, he had probably received it when he tried to help Baekhyun. 

 

 

It was a matter of time when they could afford to calm down. Jongin, despite being tired, had many questions and refused to rest until he got answers in particular because of how confused he was and the leader felt was best to catch up. However he noticed how he struggled every moment for staying awake. When he was in Marseille, Suho was the one who knew the place best, so even if he didn't want to do it, he prepared to go to the edge of the city in order to find something for dinner since he knew that the other’s needed to replenish energy after what happened.  

 

 

Baekhyun had stayed beside Jongin in case he needed something since Tao had fallen asleep, and he knew that the would end up in the same way if Baekhyun kept stroking his hair, after all it was something he used to do often after a day of heavy workouts

 

At first Jongin had been cold with the rest of the members, but when he managed to trust the rest and relaxed in their presence everyone could realize that sometimes he behaved like a baby waiting to be spoiled, even more so than Sehun. He remember the occasions when he had come to his room with a pout on his face and tantrum about how the instructors reprimanded him for his lack of discipline made him smile a little, especially because he used to calm down when Baekhyun's delicate hands played with his hair, when Kyungsoo cooked his favorite dish, or even when Minseok made him come to reason and that he should listen to what the elders advised him, after all they just wanted to help him. 

 

 

“ Hyung ...” he  thought the boy had fallen asleep so he was surprised to hear his voice suddenly. He raised an eyebrow indicating that he was listening. “Are you all right?”

 

 

“Of  course, yes. Maybe a little tired. Why do you ask?”

 

He tried to smile so as not to worry him but Jongin could see how that smile did not reach his eyes.

 

 

“ You looked very nervous when Suho-hyung told us what had happened.”

 

 

“ ... I guess, I still try to gather everything that has happened.”

 

 

“I'm sorry.”

 

 

“Why are you saying sorry for?”

 

 

“ For not having been there when that doctor first appeared. I know you got hurt before Hyung, and I couldn't be there to help you. Even now when Kris-hyung tried ...”

 

 

“ But you arrived on time, you were even injured.”

 

 

“ If only I had not been a coward ... I could have taken all of us from that place since the beginning, disappear from the first time we met with these doctors, they never gave me a good sign ... if I had not heard Suho-hyung nobody would have left hurt.”

 

 

“ You have nothing to apologize Jongin, there are things that we cannot control and much less change. It would also have been very dangerous.”

 

 

“ But none of this would have happened!”

 

The elder shuddered slightly at Jongin's tone and began to understand that what he felt was not sadness or regret but frustration, something he had thought weeks ago.

 

 

“ We do not know where the rest are or if they are well. Suho-hyung looks very tired, Tao doesn't remember anything and you ... Hyung , your appearance tells me that you haven't been taking care of yourself either.” 

 

 

“ Neither do you.”

 

Jongin knew that it was true, so he did not take care to deny it.

 

 

Suho had returned with bags full of food and some things that could help them before moving again. A feeling of nostalgia filled his heart when Tao had woken up with the smell of the food around him and insisted Jongin not move his injured arm while he tried to put more food on Baekhyun's plate making sure to fill his stomach. It had been a long time when there were no moments like these and that thought only encouraged him to reunite his whole family and ensure the well-being of all.

 

 

When they finished eating and the youngers had fallen asleep, Suho had disappeared in the kitchen and had returned with two cups, one for him and one for Baekhyun.

 

 

“ It's hot water, it should help your throat a little.”

 

He did not know how it was that leader had knowledge of those things but in effect, after a few sips he could feel some relief in his throat just from the heat. He felt a light touch on his jaw by turning his face watching as Suho's gaze became soft. He had not noticed what the leader contained in his other hand until he had contact with his neck.

 

 

“I didn't have any medicine for bruises so I tried to look for it.”

 

Baekhyun had not had the opportunity to see himself in a mirror because of everything that had happened so he had not noticed that just as the previous encounter with Kris had left bruises on his arm when he had struggled with him, the same thing had happened again.

 

 

Once Suho had finished applying the ointment on his neck and saw how he finally relaxed, Baekhyun moved closer, resting his head on his shoulder simply because of the need to feel the comfort and warmth that the leader always provided. It was not necessary for him to express it out loud for Suho to guess what he was thinking.

 

 

“ We will wait a few days to leave here, I am sure we are close to finding others.”

 

 

“ Hey Suho ... What if the rest don't remember us? Tao instantly attacked Kris ... he doesn't remember how much he liked him, he doesn't even remember us.”

 

 

“ We must give him time, his memories will return progressively. At least that is what I want to believe and if in the worst case scenario, we will have to create new moments together.”

 

He knew that his words were not very comforting but still Baekhyun appreciated the intention, and also fully trusted his leader. He was beginning to lose his fear at night and loneliness, as well as the need to create his little ball of light until he fell asleep from fatigue because he knew it was not necessary, not when he could hear the soft breathing of the others in the room and how Suho lay his head on his reminding him that he was not alone anymore.

 


End file.
